Collapsed
by WhiteSheWolf17
Summary: Ichigo Kurosaki didn't think his day could get any worse. With his demanding boss, busy work schedule, and one short-tempered midget of an assistant, he just couldn't wait to go home for the night. But when an earthquake rocks through Tokyo, subsequently damaging the work building they are in, Ichigo's day suddenly becomes collapsed. AU IchiRuki. GinRan implied.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: Hey everyone! I hope you all enjoy this new story! Recently I have just been getting so inspired and figured this would make a good story. Falling buildings, Ichigo and Rukia being trapped together, falling in love, what's not to love? Please review and the next chapter will be up soon :)**_

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.**_

Today was not a good day. No, today was just awful. Not to mention that it was my first day off of work in a month. My bad luck seemed to cascade and hit me right away. I jerked awake to my cell phone angrily ringing. Apparently, my boss felt it necessary to call me at four in the morning saying I had to get to work right away as I was desperately needed, despite it being my day off. Of course, one must never turn down Ukitake, but at the moment with my hand gripping the phone so hard that it was ready to break, I wanted to.

But being a good guy, I told him I'd be there in an hour. That was before the coffee spilling incident, the freezing cold shower that I had to endure because the heater wasn't working, having my truck not wanting to start in the cold weather, getting stuck in traffic, and then to finish it all off, getting a flat tire.

Needless to say, I didn't make it to work in an hour. More like three and a half.

Walking into the tall building that held about two hundred levels, briefcase in hand, and having my shoes echo off the marble flooring, I kept thinking, _Yep, I'm definitely fired._

Sighing, I walked into one of the many elevators that lined the main lobby and pushed the button that named my floor, _115_. The doors slid closed and the annoying music filled the compartment.

I was still in such a daze that I didn't realize someone else was occupying the elevator with me until a feminine voice called my attention.

A tall, strawberry-blonde with rather large, _ahem_, assets, stood with a folder clutched to her chest and grinning slyly at me.

"I didn't know you had to come into work today, Ichigo," she said.

"I didn't even know you came to work, Rangiku," I retorted.

She laughed, "Just today."

"Did you get called in also?" I asked, adjusting the weight of the briefcase to my hand.

"Unfortunately."

"So you're late, too?" I secretly hoped.

"It wasn't my fault!" she defended, blue eyes going wide. "It was suppose to be my day off so I went partying last night and got in pretty late and only managed to sleep three hours." She gave a light sigh, "Toshiro better have a good reason for pulling me out of bed."

So Toshiro was in on this, too. Did each of our boss' so desperately need us? I sighed, rubbing the back of my neck. Perhaps my day wasn't so bad. I wasn't even sure if Rangiku was actually completely sober.

We were only passing the eightieth floor so I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes for a few seconds.

"Oh!" Rangiku clapped her hands together and I peeked open an eye to look at her. "That's right! You got a new assistant! How is she?"

I groaned. "A pain in the ass midget."

She frowned. "Already, huh? Hasn't it only been a few days since she started? How can you already believe she's a pain?"

"Trust me, once you meet her you'll-" I blinked. "Actually, you two will probably get along."

"Really!" she gushed as I rolled my eyes. "That's just great! Wait..." she held up one manicured finger and glared at me. "Are you implying that _I'm_ a pain in the ass!"

The elevator gave a soft _ding_, announcing my destined floor.

"Would you look at that! It's our floor!" I say with mock amazement. I run out and hear her shout out, "Kurosaki!" along with a string of curse words.

Maybe this day wouldn't be so bad after all.

Knocking on my boss's door, I heard him cough and mutter a "come in."

"You wanted to see me?" I asked the man sitting behind a desk.

"Ah, Ichigo, yes," he beckoned me forward.

I walked into the spacious office and gently close the door. Ukitake was sitting behind a large mahogany desk and riffling through some papers. I pulled out one of the red velvet chairs in front of his desk and sat down, trying to decipher his expression.

"What time did you get in?"

"Just now," I answered truthfully. He nodded and I clenched my fist. He was probably coming up with a nice way to let me go.

"Well, you're here now so that's all that matters," he smiles.

I was in shock. "So...I'm not fired?" I clarified.

"Goodness no!" he pushed back into his chair as if the very thought repelled him. "Honesty, you're a major part of this corporation."

"I see."

"Yes, well, you're probably wondering why I called you in so early." I only had time to give a curt nod before he continued. "Our corporation...isn't doing so well."

"I know."

"A different company is close to taking us out. So, I called most of you in to continue your work. It absolutely needs to be finished by the end of the day."

"I understand, sir. I'll get started right away," I stood up.

"Oh, Kurosaki!" I turned my head to look at him. "Why don't you call in your assistant? I'm sure all the help the better."

I couldn't help but cringe. That was the one thing I did not want I do. I know for a fact I had her stay later than usual last night, not knowing when she went home. And now I would be calling her in early! She was sure to bite my head off. I sighed, thanked him, and left.

Outside his quiet sanctuary of an office had me stumbling out into a totally different environment. The lobby was in chaos. People were shouting, phones were ringing, carts were rolling at dangerous speeds, and papers were flying.

I could feel the scowl on my face as I stiffly walked to the far right corner where my cubicle of an office sat. The adjoining cubby was where my assistant was stationed. Looking over, I wasn't surprised to find it empty. I was surprised, however, by the unnatural tidiness and cleanliness of her space.

Her waste basket by her desk was empty, her desk was cleared of any papers and a pen was laid off to the right. Her chair was pushed in and centered and a potted plant was full and ravishing in the sunlight that was pouring in from the window filled walls. Everything seemed white and clean.

I frowned, taking notice of my "office". All my furniture seemed dark, papers were splayed over the complete top of my desk, obstructing any view of what color the desk even was. My wastebasket was overflowing with crumpled up papers and my small plant that my sisters gave me in an attempt I spruce up the small 7X7 square, sat dead in the corner.

I glanced back over the top of the four foot dividers into my assistant's office and furrowed my eyebrows. Either she was really tidy or didn't work at all.

I sighed, setting my briefcase on the ground, and began gathering all the papers in a pile.

My cubby was far enough away from all the commotion unfolding a hundred feet away that the noise wasn't to distracting. If someone were to cough in the adjoining cubby, I would hear it.

Since my office cubby was stationed in the far right, I, along with the horizontal line of cubbies to my right, had about an extra foot of space behind us, which ends up hitting the main wall.

To say the building was made out of the usual four walls was a understatement. For one, the main walls weren't even walls. The walls were in fact, one window that stretched around the whole skyscraper. Unfortunately, my desk was positioned so my back was facing the window. Although, since I was the first person in my row, I also had the left wall to look out of. But the same wet for the person directly in front I me, and the person in front of them. In conclusion, it's just a square and in positioned at the bottom left of that square.

Pushing the papers aside, I plopped down in my chair and swiveled to face the window, not wanting to get to work just yet.

The weather outside was actually pretty shitty. The sun seemed to have mysteriously disappeared, replaced with black clouds and a strong wind that I could see blowing leaves and trees. It looked like it was about to storm at any moment. The view I had of the city wasn't too bad. From where I was at 1,380 feet up, the whole city was stretched out in front of me. But being on floor _115_ didn't compare to the view on the very last floor, _200_. Being 2,400 feet up was something else.

I turned back to my task at hand. I decided I would work steadily for an hour and then I would call in my assistant, Rukia Kuchiki.

_**REVIEW :D**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Wow I didn't think so many people would be reading this! But…no reviews…if only every person that read this left a review I would have 200 reviews! Oh well, it can't be helped.**_

_**Thanks to the people who are following: Fox of Darkness, Gripping The Blade Of Glory, KrAzI JaY, Star fire girl 788, TheHedgehog22, pinky357, Hekka.**_

_**Also, thanks to who favored, ThatPaladin.**_

_**I'm not sure how long this story is going to be. I hope it's not moving too fast but I want to get to the earthquake as soon as possible. Maybe this will be ten chapters? Maybe more. I don't want to drag it out but I don't want it to abruptly end. I guess we'll see. **_

I ended up waiting an extra fifteen minutes before I decided to call her. Even though she was my assistant—as of three days ago and I held more authority over her, she still seemed to be equal. Despite the fact that she only came up to my shoulders, I was a bit afraid of her.

Gritting my teeth, I picked up the phone, punched in her cell number that I already knew by heart, and held my breath.

_It rang. _

_And rang. _

_And rang. _

I was about to hang up when a mumbled, "What?" came through. From her voice, it was clear that I woke her up.

"Get into work now," I ordered, "Emergency."

With that I hung up before she could say a word. Let her make out what she wants with "emergency".

I went back to my work and concentrated on not thinking of the outcome of my directness to her. _Whatever_. I was her boss so it should be fine. She should have known what she was in for when she took the job. I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache start to form from all the papers.

I probably wasn't supposed to hear it from all the commotion, but I did. The elevator in the front of the room gave a ding and a short woman with short black hair stepped out wearing a white blouse, a black skirt, and some dark violet heels that really wouldn't help her height for her advantage.

I watched her as she greeted one of our colleagues who had long red hair pulled back in a ponytail and tattoos. Renji waved to her from his office space and she walked in my direction with a neutral expression.

_Great. Just fucking fantastic._

When she was within earshot she nodded to me. "Good morning," her voice was clipped as she settled into her office beside me. I looked at the clock on my desk and saw that it was close to noon, not quite morning anymore.

She disappeared from my view as she sat down. I could hear her start typing on her computer and I sighed. _Oh, yeah, she was pissed_.

I swiveled back in my chair and stood up, placing my hands on the divider between us and peering down. She was already starting on her paperwork and her computer glowed to life.

"Hey, Rukia, what time did you go home last night?"

"About three in the morning," she answered, keeping her eyes on her computer screen.

Oh…that wasn't good. I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "Jeez, you really didn't need to stay that late."

She shrugged, "Its fine. I got my revenge."

I frowned, bringing my hand slowly down to rest back on the divider. The only person she could be mad at enough to give revenge to would be me. "What did you do?" I asked evenly.

She gave a small smile. "I have a feeling that your truck just didn't want to start today," she stops and turns to look at me with a devilish smile. "Am I right?"

My hands grip the divider tighter. "What the hell, Rukia! I was late because of that!"

"Serves you right, asshole!"

"Listen," I growled. "Just finish up half of what you have and go home. I'll finish the rest." I turned to sit back down when something thumped across my forehead. I looked down in time to see a pencil falling to the ground.

"I'll finish my work, thank you very much," Rukia remarked, bringing her hand down from where she threw the pencil. "Besides," she turned back to her work, "I'll probably finish before you anyway."

I gritted my teeth. "Bring it on, Midget."

"Fine. May the best person win, _Strawberry_."

That sparked my fury and I began quickly jotting down notes and typing.

/ ~ / ~ / ~ /

The adrenalin wore thin after two hours. I dropped my pen and rubbed my temples. The rain was hitting the windows and the thunder shook them so much that I felt my concentration breaking. Also, I was starting to feel the pangs of hunger envelop me.

"Hey, Rukia," I call out, knowing she would hear. She didn't respond, so I called out her name louder. When she still didn't respond, I stood up and looked over into her cubby to see if she was even there or if she bailed.

What I saw almost made me laugh. With her head resting on her arm on her desk and her mouth slightly parted, I saw that she was fast asleep.

"Stupid midget," I mutter under my breath and walk out of my office. I walk out of the room, down the elevator, and to the cafeteria. There, I buy two sandwiches and cups of Ramon, along with two juice boxes.

I get back to my floor, placing my portion of food on my desk and then walking around to Rukia's cubby.

"Rukia," I set the food down on the open space of her desk and gently shake her shoulder. "Rukia, wake up."

"Go 'way, 'chigo." I hear her mumble.

I roll my eyes. "Look, I brought you food." Her eyes blink open and she slumps back into her chair, gazing at me with intense, violet eyes and her eyebrows scrunched together.

"Why did you buy me this?" she asks.

"I figured you would be hungry with all the sleep you were having," I return. "Anyway, eat it before it gets cold."

"It's a sandwich, dummy." She unfolds it and takes a bite.

"There's a cup of Ramon also," I inform her, leaning against the window. She takes out the juice box and seems to study it for a while. "What?" I ask.

"What is this?"

"A juice box."

"But…aren't they for kids?"

"Yes, which is why I bought it for you." I was ready for the impact, so when she chucked the juice box at me, my hands caught it easily before it could connect with my face. "Relax, Midget." I toss it lightly back. "I got one also."

She catches it and glares at it. "I don't even know how to open it."

I blink. "What? Didn't you even have one before?"

She shook her head," No, Nii-sama wouldn't dare have had these in his house."

"Here," I took it from her hands. "You take the straw and poke it through the hole." I poked it through and handed it back. "There."

She slowly takes it back as if she was afraid it would come alive and bite her. "Thanks."

I nod and walk back to my desk. Taking out my food, I eat and look toward my paperwork. I was almost done and would probably only be here for an hour more.

"Rukia…" I stopped typing as a sudden thought occurred to me.

"What now?" I heard her voice sigh.

"Uh…" How was I to put this? "So you damaged my truck…"

"Yes," she answered unfazed and I hurried to continue.

"But in order to do that you had to of known where I lived. So…how do you know where I live?"

"What are you talking about? I live next door!"

"Really?" How did I not know that? "In the same apartment?"

I heard her shuffling around. "Yes, Ichigo."

"Huh," I sat back mystified. Weird. "For a second there I thought you were stalking me."

"Go bald, Kurosaki. Why would I waste my time stalking you?"

"Well you wasted your time sabotaging my truck."

"You know what!" I heard the wheels of her chair roll back and her heels click as she stalked around to my cubby.

I spun around to see her breathing hard with her hands clenched in tiny fists at her side. The window was to her back and at that second lighting danced across the darkened sky as if her anger sparked it.

I could feel the smirk on my face as I stood up. Thunder crackled and it rattled the window.

Something caught my eye behind Rukia's head and I squinted, noticing tiny cracks starting to slowly move across the large window. Was I seeing things? It was barely noticeable unless I really looked at it. _Why was that happening? Thunder couldn't possibly do that…right?_

"Rukia…" I say hesitantly, slowly reaching my hand out and maybe it was the way I said it or the look on my face, but she scrunched her eyebrows and her expression fell, regarding me carefully. She unclenched her hands slowly and took a small step forward.

"Ichigo? What is it?" She took another step toward me and at that moment the floor seemed to move and shift under my feet. I could feel the pressure and heard a small groan. I stared in disbelief as I saw my bookcase become unstable and wobble before crashing to the floor a few feet in front of me. Rukia jumped back, flattening her back against the window. The lights started to flicker and buzz from the electricity. I could hear other people's shelves topple and hit the floor as the whole building seemed to sway to the left.

"Oh, God," Rukia gasped, still against the window and staring wide eyed at the destruction quickly unfolding.

"_Earthquake!_" someone yelled, perhaps Renji, as more cracks appeared on the windows, stretching farther and farther and wrapping around the entire floor of the building.

"_Rukia!_ Get away from there!" I ordered, stretching my arm out further.

A second later, the windows erupted; making shards of glass go flying.

_**A/N: Reeeeeview! Please?**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Wow! Already 460 people read this! You guys really came through with the reviews, too and I thank you for that! I love receiving them and they help motivate me! So I'm crossing my fingers for a total of 15 reviews with this chapter! (Aiming high, I know. But why not?)**_

Thanks for favoring: ThatPaladin, Mack333, Ru-tama, Rukia Heart, Tatiana-Azuma, and Star fire girl 788!

Thanks for following: Fox of Darkness, Gripping The Blade Of Glory, KrAzI JaY, Star fire girl 788, TheHedgehog22, pinky357, IchigoMoonCutter, Hekka, Ru-tama, hothead11, ichirukiluv, Tatiana-Azuma, and lone ruler!

Since there was a cliff hanger at the end of the last chapter, I've decided to post this chapter earlier than intended because—let's face it—you wanna know what happens! So here's my treat for you, my readers! Enjoy :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, manga nor anime or any of the characters, the rightful owner is Kubo Tite.

She collapsed forward into my open arms and I pulled her over the fallen bookcase. From the sound of the snarling cold wind coming in from the broken open windows, booming thunder, blinding lightning, heavy rain, and crackling and banging of the earthquake, I could hear Rukia give a startled scream.

The impact of her body and the tilting of the building made me stumble and fall to the floor onto my back, barely centimeters from my head striking the desk with her splayed on my chest. The lights kept flickering before succeeding in being cut off completely, darkening the inside of the building.

I could feel liquid streaming through my fingers from where my hands were grasping Rukia's back. It took my brain a moment to register the fact that it wasn't water, but blood. I looked down to see the back of her white blouse becoming red.

"Get them out! _Please!_" Rukia pleaded from where her forehead was against the crook of my neck, making my chest tighten at her voice.

_The glass,_ I realize, _she has shards of glass in her back!_

One of the overhead lights that was swinging erratically, detached from the ceiling and crashed to the floor, five feet from us. We had to get out of the opening so nothing would hit us.

"I will," I promised her but I wasn't sure if she would be able to hear me over all the destruction.

Quickly, but carefully, I sat up, pulling her with me and held her in my arms, careful not to touch her back anymore than I already did. Her wide eyes stared all around her at the havoc that was unfolding. I hastily scanned around for somewhere she would be safe.

Lights were still falling and the strong winds kept blowing the rain in through the broken windows, misting everything inside. The only place I could think that would be the safest place would be under my desk.

Gripping Rukia a little tighter, I shuffled on my knees and placed her under it, stationing myself in front so no flying debris would hit her.

"Ichigo, thank…you," she breathed, shutting her eyes and scrunching her eyebrows in obvious pain.

"Don't thank me yet," I clenched my jaw, staring at her blood soaked back, contemplating on how to get the glass out. I had enough medical training from my fathers' clinic that I knew I couldn't just pull it out since I wasn't sure how deep they were and risk making her bleed to death. I couldn't even get to her wounds with her shirt in the way.

I took a deep breath. "Here," I said, "let me see your back." She looked at me for a second before willingly turning so that her back faced me. Reaching up on top of my desk, I grabbed a pair of scissors. "Sorry about your shirt." I quickly cut from the bottom up, leaving about two inches of fabric on her neck.

"_Wait!_ No!" she shouted to late, quickly wrapping her arms around her bare back. All that was in view was her bra strap and I felt my cheeks heat up against my will. I shook my head and left it since there was no punctures around it.

I could see at least five fairly large pieces of glass sticking out, large enough for me to pull out with my fingers if I wanted. I could tell there were also various splinters of glass from the sudden spots of blood. Those would be tricky. But what surprised me was the amount of scars Rukia had on her back and my hand froze, centimeters from touching one. _What had she been through?_ Absentmindedly, I ran my fingers over one that seemed like a knife sliced her.

"What are you doing?" she hissed.

"N—nothing," I mumbled, moving to another piece of glass. "Just taking out and looking for glass." Her shoulders shook and since I couldn't see her face, I wasn't sure if she was laughing or crying.

All my attention was focused on the glass that I vaguely could hear the earthquake continue to rip through. I could hear people screaming and shouting for help and out of the corner of my eye, I saw part of the ceiling crumble down.

_This is madness_, I thought as I continued to work on the glass, occasionally seeing Rukia wince. I didn't know what I could do to ease her pain.

Slowly, people's sentences started to break through to me and I became aware of what exactly they were shouting in this chaos.

"_We can't get out!_" a woman's shrill shout cut through. "There's too much debris on the stairs and some are even completely gone!"

"Not to mention there's no power! Elevators are useless," I heard a vaguely familiar voice yell.

"Like I'd go in one on an earthquake anyway!" someone responded. _Shuuhei?_

"Everyone, calm _down_!" That voice I knew.

"Shut up, Renji! It's not that easy to calm down! How can we be calm when someone is dead!" another person defended. My fingers froze from carefully pulling out a sliver of glass.

_What? Someone died?_

"Who died?" Rukia asked quietly.

"That's what I would like to know," I sighed.

"Don't talk so lightly about it," I heard Renji answer back and could picture him clenching his fists. "I've already had a loved one die in my arms!"

_That's right_, I remembered, _Renji's wife died in a car accident._

"Need some help here?"

I jumped at the closeness of the voice. "Rangiku!" She gave a sad smile. I saw that she had a bad gash on her forehead. "Are you alright?"

She put her hand back on her forehead. "This is what I get for coming into work," she said with dry humor. Her eyes landed on Rukia and my bloody hands on her exposed, pale back.

"Glass," I clarified.

She nodded, "I have some alcohol stashed in my desk. I'll go grab it to help her cuts." She stood up from being crouched down next to me.

"Wait," I said recalling something. "How did you get in here? The elevators are out of power and the stairs are broken and covered in cement and debris. Isn't your floor above us?"

"Yeah, but look," she pointed to the ceiling about ten feet to my right where a fairly large hole formed from when it gave way. "I jumped down from my floor."

I raised my eyebrows. "That wasn't very smart, you could have broken your legs."

"Do you want the alcohol or not? All I have to do is climb back up."

I looked to Rukia who was huddled and shivering slightly. "Yes, please."

"Back in a flash!" she winked and hurried to the hole in the ceiling that looked like only one person would be able to fit through. She hopped up on a desk and pulled herself through.

I shook my head. "You know, for someone who just had twins, she sure moves fast." Rukia stayed silent and I frowned. "Why are you so quiet around Rangiku?"

"I just don't want to say the wrong thing," she replied.

"Wrong thing? It's _Rangiku_! She says some pretty crazy things."

"It's just something Nii-sama informed me. Her husband is a little…"

"I'll agree that Gin isn't the most trustworthy," I said quickly, "But he can't do anything to you."

"I know that. Just to my brother. They aren't exactly on equal terms." I could tell she didn't want to say anything further so I let it drop. She sighed. "The earthquake stopped so I'm getting out of this cramped desk." Until she pointed that out, I hadn't realized. She began to get out and I had no choice but to get out of her way.

"Careful," I warned. "I don't think I got all of the glass out. And there could still be an aftershock."

"I'll be fine. I'm pretty tough," she smiled and playfully gave me a shove.

"Hey! Your shirt isn't quite on!" I quickly averted my eyes.

She looked down and I saw the creep of a blush on her cheeks. "Oh…um."

"Here," I took off my button down purple shirt and handed it to her, leaving me in a white tank. She took it gratefully and slipped it on. I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at how it fit her.

"Your huge!" she said, spreading her arms out so the sleeves went passed her hands and hung down a little.

"Too bad your such a midget," I teased, looking at her eyes, I realized, "Hey, it matches your eyes."

I saw a ghost of a smile on her lips as she began rolling up the sleeves. "So, Ichigo," she looked me directly in the eyes. "How long are we going to be stranded here?"

I looked around. Bookcases were fallen over, papers were covering the floor in a sea of white, all the glass on the windows were gone, the plant my sisters gave me was overturned with dirt everywhere, glass spotted the floor, there was absolutely no power, and the stairs were inaccessible. There was no way we could get to the main lobby to leave the building so I had no idea how we would be rescued.

"I don't know, Rukia," I told her honestly, "I really don't know.

_**A/N: Aw! So how was that? Do you think it's progressing okay? Are they not serious enough? I don't know. I'd think they would be a bit used to earthquakes and know right away what to do. But this one is different. I mean, they're stuck 1,000 feet up! With no walls! One slip and they would plummet! Scary…**_

I really appreciate your thoughts so please keep leaving reviews! They are really inspiring me to continue with all your support! Thanks you guys!

~WhiteSheWolf17


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Just a heads up, I didn't quite enjoy how I wrote this chapter. For some reason, writing and re-reading it, I realized how bad it was and I couldn't quite progress the story. I really suck at writing long chapters, too. I write everything on paper first and then on my IPod so I always think its lengthy opposed to what it really is. So I hope you at least like it and it doesn't bore you. Ha-ha…oops.**_

_**I'm starting to venture into the world of writer's block. It's a dark and scary place! Help! If any of you have any ideas, please, feel free to review or PM me them!**_

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_**THANK YOU TO THOSE WHO REVIEWED: Star fire girl 788, IchigoMoonCutter, B000079z, Ru-tama, Lizzy, Rei, vic, and the guests!**_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**_

Twenty minutes passed since the end of the earthquake. A girl with brown hair pulled back in a bun named Momo patched up Rukia's back with a first aid kit they had found and the two were quickly getting along. When Momo was placing bandages on Rukia's back, Momo's eyes hardened a bit and I could only assume she saw her scars. We passed the kit around to those who needed it. I never found out who the person was that died but I never asked. I didn't want to be inconsiderate to someone who was really close to them.

Everyone moved away from the windows and we all sat by the elevators and stairway. There was no way any of us would get back to work since the whole building was practically in ruins. All we could do was sit and wait.

I was sitting by Renji, Shuuhei, and Izuru. I had a few miscellaneous bruises, but otherwise was fine. Renji had a fairly deep cut on his right cheek. I'm not sure what caused it, but Shuuhei had three deep jagged lines running down from his right half of his face, extending to his jaw and I already knew that they would scar. Izuru was cradling his broken left hand and insisted that he was fine.

Rukia was sitting a few feet away by Momo and Rangiku, talking about nothing in particular. She seemed better now that she didn't have any glass in her back and still had my shirt on.

"Hey! Anyone see the boss?" One of my colleagues, Hiyori shouted from where her group of people was sitting.

"Oh, no," Kira suddenly gasped, looking toward the boss's closed door. His eyes widened and he jumped up.

With an unsinkable feeling, I realized what was wrong. Renji was already running for Ukitake's door. He tried to thrust the door open but it wouldn't budge. He threw his shoulder into it as I scrambled up from the floor.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked, worried from our sudden urgency, frowning slightly, "What—?"

"Stay there!" I ordered, not wanting her to see something awful plague her head, and ran to aid Renji and Kira.

"_Move!_" a new voice ordered and I spun to see Sentaro barreling forward. He rammed himself into the stuck door, shouting for Ukitake.

Sentaro, Renji, Shuuhei, and I pushed against the door with all our strength, trying to move the weight that seemed to be rubble blocking the door. We pushed and I could feel my forehead glisten with sweat from all the effort. Sentaro gave a finally grunt and really rammed himself into the door. Finally, it cracked open and we had enough leverage that our next push opened the door halfway, pushing the wreckage away.

A short girl with dirty blonde hair—Kiyone—I realized, rushed passed us. Sentaro tried to make a grab for her arm to stop her from seeing her worst nightmare but she easily dodged it. Her shrill scream filled the fallen apart office and my eyes finally saw why.

There, under rock and rubble, was our boss, Ukitake, half seen lying on the ground with his eyes closed and blood trickling out of his mouth. Dead. _Crushed._

I stumbled backward, trying to take deep breaths. There was no way! How did we not get to him sooner? Did this happen right away or just a few minutes ago? Why didn't I think about where he might be? I felt so overcome with guilt that I crouched over, placing my hands on my knees and trying to calm my breathing.

"_Quick!_" Kiyone screamed. "Get someone! An ambulance! _Something!_"

"No," Sentaro solemnly responded. "It's—it's too late, Kiyone. He's gone." He went to embrace her to calm her down but she fought back.

"_No! Just pull him out or something_," she pleaded in agony, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Kiyone…" Sentaro was at a loss with his arms open, but she finally fell into them, breathing in sobs.

"I—I have to call my sister," she gasped. "I need to get out of this building! She gave me a ride to work today."

"Alright, just…calm down." He carried her out of the office and into the main one. He set her down beside Momo and Rukia who were already comforting her.

I shook my head and sighed, straightening up. This really was not good. Could this day literally get any worse? _Our boss was dead!_ How…what do we do now? Our work was in shambles and who knew how many others were dead on the various other floors. Did the first floor make it out? Or did the whole building collapse on them? My face paled and I clutched my stomach, looking up at our ceiling. We had ninety-five floors above us which could weaken and shatter at any moment given the slumping of ours and holes that filled it. No sign of rescue had been seen even though countless calls had been made. What if…I didn't make it out of this? What if we all didn't? I glanced around at all the workers, some of them friends that I knew for a while, some I just met, and some I never even talked to. Every single one of these people had families and loved ones. They may never see them again.

Fumbling around in my pocket, I pulled out my cellphone. I had to call my family and tell them I was safe…for the most part.

My eyes landed on Rukia who was looking at baby pictures Rangiku was showing her. Rukia's eyes were lit up and laughed at some of them. Rangiku was smiling like a proud mother and telling a story on how the twins tackled Gin. I knew the whole ordeal was them trying to not think about their current situation and distract themselves with harmless pictures and stories. With a jolt, I realized Rangiku might never see her kids again after today.

"Ichigo? What happened?" I didn't realize that I actually hit the call button on my phone, so when Yuzu's soft voice spoke, I was speechless.

"Yuzu…your home?" I asked dazed, stating the obvious but still needing the comfort of knowing that they were safe. "Karin also?"

"Yeah, we have a week break from college so we're helping dad around the house," she explained.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin's voice shouted in the background. A slight commotion and shuffling was heard and a second later her voice became closer and clearer. "Today was your day off, right? You _said_ it was. So you're okay? I heard that an earthquake struck Tokyo." That was Karin, always to the point.

My heart clenched and I took a shaky breath. "I'm sorry you guys. I'm…in my building."

"What!" Karin gasped at the same time I heard Yuzu cry, "_No!_"

"I'll be okay, I promise," I lied, squeezing my eyes shut and pinching the bride of my nose. "I'll be home tomorrow for dinner to make it up, alright?" I didn't say I would be home tonight for dinner since it was already four thirty at night, but it wasn't like it even mattered. I doubted that we would be rescued tonight.

"You're lying," Karin stated and I knew she would've. "We're your sisters, we know when you're lying and telling the truth!"

"Listen—"

"_Dad!_" Yuzu shouted so loudly that I had to move the phone away from my ear.

"Yuzu, don't tell—" I was interrupted by none other than my father.

"_ICHIGOOOO!_" his booming voice shouted which always ceased to annoy me, but now it felt nice to hear him even with his next questions being predictable. "How is my wonderful son doing? I'm not getting any younger here so when will I expect grandkids? I mean come on, son, you're turning twenty-six in eight months!"

"Dad…" I fell silent since I didn't know what to say.

Parental instincts must have kicked in, because his joking self was gone, replaced with anguish. "What is it?" I didn't get the chance to tell him because I heard either Yuzu or Karin whisper something to him and he groaned in unhappiness. "I'm coming."

"No, Dad, don't come. The roads are probably all closed down and there's a bunch of debris everywhere," I tried to reason. Secretly, I wanted him to come. But half of me didn't want him to be here feeling helpless as he watches the building collapse in a cloud of smoke and then feel guilty. And God forbid if Yuzu and Karin went with along with him.

"That won't stop me!" he remarked. "I'm grabbing my car keys. Be there in twenty minutes." The line cut off. I brought my phone down slowly. I expected nothing less of him. I caught sight of various others on their phones, talking to loved ones, realizing the undying truth that I already concluded to.

"Rukia," I called her attention and my voice was strained. Since I could only assume that she left in such a hurry this morning to get here, I wasn't sure if she grabbed her phone or if she left it in the drawer of her desk. If it was in her desk, I wasn't going to have her walk to the back to grab it and maneuver around all the rubble and risk falling out the windows. I wasn't sure if that was too protective of me, but it was my nature and she already went through so much today.

Her head jerked up from her name being called from the floor and she focused on me. I motioned to the cell phone in my hand. I remembered her mentioning something about a brother and I didn't remember seeing any pictures of her parents. "Do you want to call your brother?" I asked.

"No," she snapped without a moment's hesitation.

I blinked. That wasn't what I thought she would say. What was up with her? "Why not? You may not make it out!" I didn't want to say that but the truth of the situation hit me hard and freaked me out.

"What are you saying, Ichigo?" she crossed her arms and looked pointedly at me.

I sighed. "Look around. The ceiling is caving and the weight of the building isn't being held by much."

"I've realized that. But I don't want to bug him."

I was getting aggravated. "Rukia! This is your _life_! He should care enough to know if you're okay!"

Her violet eyes hardened. "My brother is not like that. He expects me to be able to take care of myself and I can." She surveyed around her and seemed to replay her words in her head. "But…this is a bit different I suppose." She gave an exhausted sigh before looking at me again. "All right."

I stepped over to her and crouched down, handing her my phone. She accepted it, inhaling a deep breath, then dialed. I heard it ring once and then someone picked up on the other end.

"Byakuya Kuchiki, please," Rukia said and it felt like I was punched in the stomach. How was I so stupid and not realize her last name. _Byakuya Kuchiki!_ Of course she would be related to him. Well…that makes a lot of sense now! No wonder why she felt like a burden to him. He wasn't exactly the loving type. Everyone knew him as a stern, professional, and wealthy business man.

I stood up, deciding to give her some privacy and walked back to the elevators. Leaning my back against the wall, I crossed my arms and stared out where the widows were supposed to be. The rain hadn't let up and the building seemed to be getting ten degrees colder by the hour. Hopefully we wouldn't be stuck here for much longer. Goosebumps were starting to rise on my exposed arms and I shut my eyes, trying to calm my beating heart. If no one would rescue us in an hour, I would find a way to save everyone inside. That was a promise to myself.

"Here," Rukia's sudden voice interrupted my thoughts and I opened my eyes as she handed back my phone, her expression a mask.

"That was fast," I took it back and pocketed it, mystified. It hadn't even been three minutes.

"I just told him where I was and he said he'd be on his way and then hung up," she explained.

"My dad said the same," I related.

"You're cold," she stated. I hadn't realized I was subconsciously rubbing my bare arms for warmth. I stopped the motion at once and scowled.

"I'm fine."

"Why don't you take your shirt back?" she offered, starting to unbutton it.

"No, keep it," I refused. "You need it more than I do. Besides, you got blood on it."

"Baka, _you're_ the one that gave me it so it's your own fault that my blood is on it!"

I gave a small chuckle. "Oh, Rukia. We can never hold a decent conversation."

She crossed her arms. "It's because you're such an idiot."

"Or the fact that you have a temper," I added.

She glared at me with so much intensity; it was like she would be able to freeze me in place. "Do you want to die, Ichigo?"

"My point exactly."

_**A/N: Meh, like I said, it wasn't my best. But maybe you think otherwise? Review! I love them! Really, I do! They make me all giddy knowing people liked it!**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Woo! 19 reviews, 1,444 views and the story is halfway done! Well…maybe. I might make this longer than intended. There COULD be a sequel but I think the plot would become really boring and a bit pointless so I may just settle with a long epilogue. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. **_

_***Oh, one more thing. I didn't know this until Darkkiss15 told me; in Japan, their emergency number is 119 NOT 911! Glad I got that cleared up otherwise I would've looked like an idiot XD!**_

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_**And as always; thank you to everyone that reviewed and has stuck with this story from the start: Star fire girl 788, hothead11, IchigoMoonCutter, falconrukichi, B000079z, Ru-tama, hunterofcomedy, Lizzy, Rei, vic, and the guests!**_

_**Anyways, ENJOY!**_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter. **_

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"119, what's your emergency?" an older woman's calm, yet monotone voice asked.

"Help us!" I shouted into my cellphone, letting my fear and anxiety sink into my next words. I had to call them for myself and maybe, just maybe, my calling would make some form of difference. "The building! It collapsed on us! _We're trapped!_ My girlfriend, she—"

"Sir," the lady in her intact office calmly interrupted my rushed words, "I need you to calm down. What is the name of the building?"

"It's…" I frowned. _Why couldn't I remember the name?_ I've been working here for about six years. It started with an 'S' I knew, but what was it called? "I don't remember," I finished in despair. "I-I got hit in the head with one of the metal beams in the ceiling."

"Okay, sir. Can you tell me your name?" she requested.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," I told her in a heartbeat.

"Okay, Ichigo. Ask someone around you. Ask them what the name of the building is."

I gripped the phone tighter, squeezing my eyes shut. "No! You don't understand. Everyone's _dead_! Rukia! She—she's _dead_!" Something inside of me snapped at saying those words out loud and by saying them meant I was accepting it. My eyes locked on her still form that I was cradling in my lap and my vision blurred.

Blood was running down the side of her face and a metal rod was pierced through her stomach. If I was a second sooner, if I pushed her out of the way, she would've been fine…alive.

"Ichigo, hang in there," the lady said soothingly, seeming to pick up on my remorse. "Just stay with me. Don't hang up." I heard what sounded like typing and then she asked, "Is the building you are in called Seireitei?"

That rang a bell. "Yes."

"Okay, Ichigo, can you tell me what happened?" she questioned.

"A bomb!" I choked out, still shook up from the incident. "A bomb exploded in our building!" _Wait…a bomb?_ That didn't seem right. "My fiancée and I were working," What? _Fiancée?_ Wasn't it just girlfriend a minute ago? Why couldn't I control my words or motions?

"A bomb struck your building," she clarified. "And everyone inside is dead except for you. Rukia is dead, Ichigo. You failed her. You couldn't protect her." _What was she saying?_ Was she really blaming me for this! "Your friends; Renji, Kira, and Shuuhei are dead. Rangiku is dead and will never see her one year old twins again because of _you_, Ichigo." As she went on I found my face hardening.

"_No!_" I refused to believe the words she was saying. That didn't make any sense! "That's not true! It was a _bomb_!" I tried to make her believe.

"A bomb that _you_ set," she replied evenly.

"I didn't set any bomb!" I shouted, losing my sanity.

"Ichigo." My eyes widened and I looked down to see Rukia staring up at me and breathing heavily. I could feel a grin stretch across my face at seeing her alive and I was about to hug her until her next words stopped me cold. "Why…why did you kill me? I thought you loved me," she gasped for breath. "You didn't control yourself," she continued, "you let him in and he took over."

I could feel my face contort into confusion. _Him?_ Who was he?

An eerie, malicious laugh suddenly echoed throughout my head and I gave a startled jump. _Long time no see, King. _

"Ichigo?"

No, this wasn't happening. It made no sense!

"Ichigo."

I shut my eyes, gripping my head, willing the voice to stop.

"Ichigo!"

Something shook my shoulder and I shied away from the touch. "No! Rukia, stay back! I don't want to hurt you!"

"Ichigo! I'm going to punch you if you don't stop!"

My eyes snapped open and I found myself at an odd angle. Was I lying on the floor? Why was the building tilted at such an odd angle then? Something violet came into focus and I realized Rukia was peering down at me with worry etched into her normal unreadable face. "What happened?" I asked, attempting to sit up.

Rukia put her hands on my shoulders and gently pushed me back down. "You were having a nightmare," she replied. Oh…that explains it. "You kept shouting out and thrashing. I wasn't sure how to wake you."

"I was talking out loud?" I groaned.

"You were saying some interesting things."

I froze, remembering. In my dream, I not only referred to Rukia as my girlfriend, but _fiancée_! "What did you hear?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know or not.

She smiled. "It doesn't matter."

I brought a hand up to my forehead. "How long was I out?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe four hours. I looked over to you because you were really quiet and I saw that you were passed out. I didn't want to wake you; it looked like you needed a rest."

"Four hours…" I mused. "Did anyone come and rescue us?"

She shook her head. "No, but we kept calling and they were saying that they were trying their best."

I grumbled under my breath. They could at least try a little harder. "Are you hungry?" No sooner had the words left her mouth when my stomach growled. Great…I hadn't even thought about what we would do for food if we couldn't get to the cafeteria.

"A little," I sighed. "But there's nothing we can do about it."

She rolled her eyes and reached behind her, handing me something. "Here."

"Where did you get this?" I asked, unwrapping the triangle of rice.

She jerked her head to the left. "The snack machine by the stairs."

"But there's no power," I stated confused. "How did you get it to work?"

"Renji and Shuuhei threw a computer chair at the front, smashing the glass and everyone got something," she shrugged.

"Of course they would do that." I sat up, this time she didn't push me back down but scooted back a bit and I leaned back against the wall, taking a bite of the rice. I saw someone had lit candles they must have had in their office and various flashlights were propped up and laying in the most strategic way to give us more light. That added light helped see inside from the night sky and I realized with a jolt that it had to be around nine-thirty at night.

Had my father made it to Tokyo after all? Was he outside now? What had happened in the four hours I was so foolishly sleeping?

"Did you at least get some sleep?" I asked Rukia and even with the little light, I could make out a faint flush of her cheeks.

"Well…" she began slowly and then the rest came out in a rush, "you were shivering in your sleep so I moved a bit closer to you, _just so you wouldn't freeze to death_," she took a breath and continued, "I might have dozed off and your thrashing and yelling is what woke me."

My chewing slowed. "Oh, well, sorry I woke you," I replied, rubbing the back of my head but she waved it off. I continued to eat and my eyes wandered around the room. Some of the people were talking in hushed tones to not disturb the few sleeping. "So where are Renji and Shuuhei now?" I asked, turning my attention back to her.

"I think I remembered them saying they were going to find a way out," she replied.

"What do you mean?"

"They have it in their head that they can clear the stairs," she gave a soft chuckle.

"They won't get very far."

"That's what I told them but, hey, at least they are trying." She fell quiet as if studying something and cocked her head to the side. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" I asked, taking another bite and not paying much attention.

"Shh! _That!_"

I frowned but strained my ears anyway. Besides the protesting groans of the building and quiet chatter, I could distinctly hear a rumbling _thump, thump, thump_. Was that…

Rukia jumped up, her face lit. "A helicopter! I knew we would be rescued!"

"Hang on, Rukia," I struggled to stand up as she was already running for the open windows near where her desk was. I wasn't short like her and as agile so I had to bend over to move under a beam and maneuver around various other debris.

"Ichigo, _look_!" she pointed off into the distance, slightly jumping up and down. Outside, it didn't quite appear like Tokyo. It was unnaturally dark except for some buildings spotting the landscape that managed to not get their power out.

Squinting my eyes, I saw a white spotlight coming towards the building, no larger than the size of a baseball. I put my hand on Rukia's outstretched arm and brought it down and pulled her back a foot from where she was just standing—right on the edge of the floor. One more step and she could've lost her balance and fell, plummeting a thousand feet to the cruel, hard ground below.

"We're saved!" she looked at me with a huge grin on her face.

I arched an eyebrow. "One helicopter though, Rukia? That doesn't seem right."

She frowned and looked back to where the spotlight was, now tripled in size and I could make out the outline of the helicopter. As it got closer, I tried to make out any markings on it to tell if it was a rescue helicopter or a news reporter. From what I could tell, the helicopter was all black and the spotlight was starting to become blinding. I brought a hand up to shield my eyes from the harsh light as Rukia did the same.

The occupants inside the helicopter down casted the light so it shone on our legs. The thumping was louder and I couldn't feel the beat of my heart. Angry gusts of wind came at us from the chopper's blades, whipping Rukia's loose clothes and our hair back. The helicopter came as close as it could before turning to the side so we could see the doors. An embellishment of a white 'K' was plastered to the door. It slid open and over a microphone loudspeaker, I heard a man say, "Rukia Kuchiki, jump now."

"Nii-sama!" Rukia cried out and stepped forward. Was this man crazy? He wanted her to jump from a thousand feet up into a helicopter five feet from where she stood? It wasn't an ideal way to be saved, but if it meant Rukia would be guaranteed safe then I was all for it even if this was a bit extreme.

"Rukia, go!" I ordered her and she looked at me as if just realizing I was there. "Your brother is here, go!"

"I—" she glanced behind her at the crumbling building and the faces of the people that were still trapped and may not have a way to get out. "No."

"Rukia! Jump! Or I'll throw you myself!"

"I can't just leave now! Not with all these people still trapped inside!"

"I'll get them out, I promise! Now hurry! Save yourself!" I implored.

"I'm not leaving you here!" she argued.

"It's fine!" I argued back. "I want you safe!" She stubbornly took a step back and avoided my eyes.

"_Rukia_," the sharp command came from the helicopter and Byakuya stood in the doorway. "Jump. You will not fall."

Rukia fiercely shook her head, her black hair falling into her eyes and that's when I lost it. Was it so selfish of me to want her safe more than everyone else? I'm not sure why I felt that, but I couldn't stand the thought of her not being safe. It was my fault she was even in this damn building in the first place! I'm the one who called her in. If I didn't call her, she would still be at home and enjoying her day off, not attempting to jump off buildings! This was her salvation to get out of this hell hole. Here was her opportunity and she wasn't taking it! I growled and in a flash picked her up bridal style. "You're leaving now!" I made up my mind and nothing she said would change it.

"Ichigo! Put me down! You don't expect to _throw me_ out the window!" she screamed, struggling against my grip and beating me relentlessly with her tiny fists, causing me to stumble on the uneven floor and cursing under my breath.

I gritted my teeth and locked my eyes on the helicopter. If I threw her with enough strength, Byakuya would easily catch her. "Byakuya! _Catch!_" I took a step forward and at the same time threw my arms. As my foot landed on the ground it seemed to finally give way and disappeared underneath me. I heard someone scream but it was all happening so fast that I couldn't register who it was or if it was even me.

I fell.

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_**A/N: Hehe…I know, I'm evil for stopping there! I love writing cliffhangers and can't wait to read your reactions and thoughts!**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Alrighty, chapter 6! I think it's a tad shorter than the others but who cares, you wanna know what's going on so I wrote it as fast as possible! Hope you enjoy! And as always; review!**_

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Disclaimer: See previous chapter.

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It seemed I was falling longer than normal when in reality, it was only a few seconds. My back landed with a loud thud as it made contact with the hard floor below me and I heard an unmistakable crack as the breath whooshed out of my lungs from falling a little over nine feet. I gasped and my eyes went wide, feeling my body not want to move.

"Ouch," a voice mumbled in my arms.

I stiffly moved my head to see I still had someone tightly held in my arms. "Dammit, Rukia!" I groaned, resting my head back down in exhaustion and staring up where a hole was now punctured through the ceiling of floor _114_. "Why did you hang on _tighter_ to me! That caused me to fall!"

She remained quiet and worry sunk into me. I heard a sniffle and could hear her trying to catch her breath. I frowned looking back down at her, the movement causing me to wince but I ignored it. A split second thought of if she was hurt flashed into my mind until I actually looked at her. What I saw surprised me.

"Are you _crying_?!" It was a situation I never knew what to do in. Sure, my sisters would cry—mostly Yuzu from time to time, especially when our mom died, but they were family. Truthfully, I didn't know how to handle Rukia.

"Shut up," she muttered halfheartedly. "The reality of it all is finally hitting me, alright?" she gave a small sigh. "Nii-sama isn't going to be pleased I disobeyed him. Hopefully he won't stick around. I don't think I could bear to confront him after that."

I sighed, my muscles protesting the small movement. "Rukia…get off. I can't breath." Her fist connected with my cheek and I sputtered, "_What the hell!_" My hand grabbed the place where she punched.

"You deserved it!" she cried, tears gently streaking down her face but she listens and slides off my stomach and stands up a bit shakily.

"Why?" My eyes follow her every move. "I can't make you stop crying," I remark, rubbing the sore spot.

"It's not that! Why would I want you to comfort me?" Despite her harsh demeanor, I could tell she was slightly…_disappointed_? "You were going to throw me out the _window_! You were either coming with me or I wasn't going at all," she started pacing with an agitated look.

"Yeah, and now look what you did! We are completely separated from everyone on our floor." I slowly turned my head to the side to take in my new surroundings.

"Can you move?" she suddenly asked me.

I debated for a second before answering, "No."

A swift kick to my stomach had me clutching my side in pain. "You can," she said stiffly.

I growled. "Quit it, Midget. I'm getting more bruises from you than from the actual earthquake!" Raising my voice like I did, I felt something almost tear in my midsection and I coughed into my hand.

"Ichigo!" Rukia said in alarm. I kept my eyes shut and groaned. Something wasn't right. "Hey, Ichigo!" I heard her settle down next to me and felt her hands move to rest where mine were tightly clutching my side.

"Somethings broken," I growled, cracking an eye open to see her face contort into sadness.

"I didn't kick you that hard…" she seemed to be having an inner battle with herself.

"No, I felt it before that," I reassured her. "I think it's my rib." I placed two fingers on the spot where there was a constant throbbing and pushed slightly, making the feeling immediately intensify. "Yup, broken," I declared, keeping my voice steady.

"Perhaps you shouldn't move," Rukia advised, glowering at the place where my ribs were and I sighed. This was just what I needed.

"Hey!" a male voice shouted above me. "What the hell was that, Ichigo?"

My eyes landed on the hole in the ceiling I made when the floor practically disintegrated underneath my feet and saw Renji's head peering down with an amused expression.

"What does it look like!" I yelled back and instantly regretted doing so when a sharp pain coursed through my chest. "I fell," I finished a bit quieter.

"I can see that," he laughed. "And now we have a way out! Thanks buddy!"

"Wasn't what I was intending to do," I mumbled.

"_Renji!_" Rukia cried out loudly. "He broke a rib!"

"Gee, thanks, Rukia," I muttered. "Now the whole world knows."

She didn't give one of her witty comebacks but instead kept her eyes on the ceiling. Was she worried about me? Strange, I didn't think she had it in her, being a Kuchiki and all.

Renji efficiently swung his legs down so he was sitting and slid down, landing effortlessly on his feet like a damn cat not even two centimeters from where I was laying.

"What the hell!" I snapped. "Were you trying to land on me and break more bones!"

He gave me a sideways glance and smiled. "Come on, get up, weakling. Let's get out of here."

I scowled but braced my hands on the floor, slowly sliding up in a sitting position. "Ichigo, hang on," Rukia brought her hands out as if to stop me. "I don't think you should—"

"I'll be fine," I huffed, standing up. "I don't think you would want to carry me. You're half my height!" I teased, attempting to lighten the situation. To my utter surprise, it did. Something seemed to change in the atmosphere.

She brought her hands down to her sides and stood up along with me and smiled. "Baka…"

Seeing her smile in that way made my heart practically skip a beat. Just seeing her that way had me smiling in return and suddenly I did something I never thought I would. My arms flashed out and I grabbed her around the waist, pulling her close and subsequently crushing her against my chest, needing the feel and comfort of knowing for sure that she was whole and safe.

She stiffened, which I had expected since this even took _me_ by surprise and placed a hand on my stomach, trying to brace herself or pull away until I leaned down slightly, resting my chin on her shoulder, closing my eyes and swinging her gently. She relaxed with a quiet exhale, dropping her hand and wrapping her arms around my back and I could swear I could feel her smile widen.

"I'm just so glad your safe." The words tumbled out of my mouth without me thinking but I didn't care. All my walls came crashing down and I felt that at this moment, Rukia deserved to know. I couldn't pretend not to like her. It had to be obvious to the naked eye. Hell, I'm sure even _Rangiku_ noticed right off the bat. I was horrible at hiding my feelings and Rukia just seemed to bring out the best of me.

"Ichigo," she held on tighter as if she never wanted to let go. "I'm sorry."

"Don't," I said, breathing in her scent. "I'm not. Despite everything, I'm not."

I felt a slight rumble reverberate from her soft laughing and I let my arms drop, stepping back to see her eyes filled with amusement. "You're so random, Strawberry," she declared.

"Weird…" Renji breathed and I thought he was talking about Rukia and I until I turned to see him facing away from us with his hands on his hips and staring at the room. _The empty room_. Some bookcases and desks were turned over and paper lined the floor—not looking much different from our floor, that was if there actually was people.

"Where the hell is everyone?" I demanded, taking a step forward.

"Use your eyes, Ichigo," Renji remarked and thrust his hand out, motioning in front of him. "They got out! And the whole time we were stuck upstairs. Come on, guys!" he yelled in the direction of the hole. "Hop on down and let's get out of this building!"

"Already ahead of you!" Rangiku answered, landing with a soft thud. She quickly moved out of the way as more people jumped down, some not as graceful as others. Among them was Kira looking relieved and pulling along Momo by her hand who had a huge grin, Hisagi with a neutral expression, Rangiku's boss Toshiro, Sentaro looking grave with his arm around Kiyone's slumped shoulders, Hiyori shoving against Shinji to try and get ahead of him, Mashiro riding on Kensei's back much to his dismay, and various other workers I never learned the names of.

"Wait!" I called as everyone was hastily moving to the door leading to the stairs. "What about the people that are above us?"

"Save yourself," I heard someone in the group mutter causing me to growl. How could they be so selfish and inconsiderate? I couldn't just leave them stranded there defenseless.

"Renji!" I shouted when I saw him near the door, filing everyone out with Toshiro. "You gotta help me get everyone else out!"

"Think about what you're saying, Ichigo!" he called back. "You have a broken rib so how do you propose on saving everyone else above us? You'll probably end up killing yourself! The building isn't stable, who knows when that aftershock will hit, and they may already be dead. It's out of our hands. Try and understand that."

My eyes darted from the door to the ceiling. Was I being irrational? We only made it down one floor. That didn't guarantee us safety. We could end up running into another obstacle twenty floors from here. I highly doubted we had a straight shot down either.

The reality sunk in and I sighed, turning toward the door with Rukia on my heels. It really was out of my hands.

"It can't be helped, Ichigo," Rukia stated gravely and grabbed my right hand, squeezing gently.

We followed the large group to the doors and were the last ones out along with Renji and Toshiro.

"Careful!" Rangiku shouted as we got to the first set of steps. "It's quite dark and there's a lot of rubble to jump over!"

A groan slipped through my lips. That was just what I needed with a cracked rib.

"Are you going to be okay?" Rukia asked, looking up at me with genuine concern.

"I will be as long as you're here," I told her honestly. "Don't leave my side."

"I won't. After everything that happened, I don't think I can, let alone _want_ to," she replied with a smile.

I simply stated at her. She was wearing my shirt, stained with her blood, her black hair was mussed and in disarray, her face was completely wiped of her work makeup, and was covered in dust from the debris. But at that moment, none of it mattered. She never looked so fierce, strong, and beautiful.

I was glad to have her by my side.

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

_**A/N: That wasn't a cliffhanger, right? Haha if you think everything is playing into their hands and just dandy…you have been forewarned! Next chapter will be anything but happy!**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Cisusi whose amazing reviews make my day :) They are truly amazing and I can't wait to read your next reviews!**_

_**Sorry for the long wait. School was getting hectic and I was working long, long hours and had no time to write.**_

_**For some reason, a song that seems to go with this story/chapter and keeps getting stuck in my head every time I write is Shattered by Trading Yesterday :) I mean, will Ichigo's love really conquer all? Ehh—unlikely. **_

_**And answering Silver Dragon for your review: Yes, I did. I figured that it was their signature thing and would be the beginning of their relationship. I just find how she doesn't understand a juice box and needs Ichigo to help her so cute!**_

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_**As always; **__**REVIEW!**__** And let's bring out the tissues for this chapter ;)**_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**_

~ / ~ / ~ / ~

I was silent as our group hurriedly walked down the cracked and broken stairs, my mind still trying to process what I was doing. Finally coming to my realization, I pushed Rukia slightly ahead of me. "I'm right behind you," I told her questioning look and she nodded, taking lead. We walked a bit more before I slowly fell back. What I was doing was eating away at me. I couldn't leave everyone trapped that were above us if we had a way out. That was beyond selfish. I had to at least try.

I spun in the opposite direction and barreled back up the stairs, silently praying that Rukia or anyone else for that matter wouldn't notice my sudden absence. I ran over to the hole I punctured through the ceiling. Grabbing a desk, I pushed it under the opening and hopped up on it, ignoring the protesting throbs from my rib. I hoisted myself through and carefully crawled away so the floor wouldn't sag under my weight.

Back on floor _115_, I ran to the hole where Rangiku jumped down from earlier. I noticed that Byakuya was nowhere to be found. I didn't think too much on where he could be and focused on getting to the next floor. Mimicking the same procedure, I pulled myself through that hole also. Now came the dilemma, how to get up to 117? Taking my chances, I ran through the empty room to the staircases, hoping that the way up was cleared. I shoved through the door and stared in disbelief. They were. I found that odd. If the stairs were cleared—for the most part—why didn't the people come down? What had happened to them? Frowning, I jogged up the stairs and stopped at a closed door. I opened it and simply stared. It was completely caved in. The whole building was piled up on this floor! I couldn't even walk into the room; it was full of cement rubble and furniture. There was no chance in hell anyone could have survived this. They were all crushed. Renji was right, they were already dead.

I took a step back, looking at the floor. If the entire floors above us were already collapsed and piled on this floor, it would only be a matter of time before this floor finally caves in under the weight and falls to the next and then the next, crushing us all if we didn't get out fast enough. I could already see it sagging. _Son of a bitch._

Despite myself, I called into the room. "_Hey!_ Is anyone in here?" I listened intently to any muffled pleas for help. There was none and I tried not to let that get to me. I had expected it. Shaking that thought aside, I tried my best to scan the demolished room when the floor vibrated. I felt the ruined building tip again and I gasped. "The aftershock," I mumbled to myself. Biting my lip, I gave one last look into the room before taking a few more steps back. Dammit! This wasn't what was supposed to happen!

Every step I took, I could feel the aftershock get fiercer and rock the building. More chunks of the ceiling were breaking off and I ducked just in time to miss getting struck in the head. If I didn't move fast enough the whole top of the building would crush me.

I gritted my teeth and barreled down the stairs, trying to move carefully so I wouldn't trip over something I couldn't see and risk breaking something else. Rukia was probably already on floor 100 if everything went their way. I only made it down three floors when I heard a commotion.

"_Let me go!_" a shill scream echoed throughout the hallway. "Renji, let _go_! Ichigo's still up there! I have to find him!"

_Rukia_, I realized with dread. She would insist on finding me even if it put herself in danger. And here I thought no one would notice my absence. Clearly, I was an idiot.

"Ow, Rukia, stop kicking! _Hey!_ Stop _biting_ me! Fine! Go!" Renji shouted.

I ran faster, desperate to get to Rukia and Renji as the building was already descending down quicker than what I thought on top of us. Every time my foot slapped against the floor, thoughts kept bombarding into my head. I couldn't save those people, they were dead. But I could—and I would—save Rukia and Renji.

As my foot landed on what I thought would be the flat floor off the stairs, instead it hit empty air and I recoiled, throwing my weight back just in time to miss plummeting down the sudden wide hole the earthquake must have made. My eyes were still adjusting to the dark but I could make out a crater sized hole right in the middle of the floor, dropping down into darkness.

On closer inspection, I realized the only way to get around it was to carefully walk around it. I flattened myself against the left side wall and side stepped around it, my feet just fitting on the intact floor. I made it around to the other side without much trouble and took a deep breath.

I was in the clear.

Suddenly, a light weight collided into me and the force sent me tumbling backward where the hole was set. My body couldn't process what my mind was so desperately alerting to and I hit the ground. My shoulders landed on nothing and my stomach flipped as I realized my upper body was falling backward into the hole while my waist and legs were firmly on the stable ground.

The momentum caused the person that was clutching onto me to slide over my shoulder and down into the hole. I flashed my arm out to catch ahold of their arm and grasped tightly, hanging slightly upside down.

"Ichigo!" Rukia cried out as she was dangling down. I held her by her hand, rolling over to my left onto my stomach to try and pull her up with better leverage.

"Hang on," I grunted. As I moved, the floor under me began to break off like brittle ice covering a lake. Every time I moved, more fragments broke off. I could feel her slipping through my fingers.

More segments were descending down from the ceiling and a slab of concrete fell onto my lower back. I hissed as it connected and reached my right hand down to meet with my left that was slipping and grabbed with both of my hands to get a better hold on her.

"Let me go!" she suddenly shouted, violet eyes flashing up at me.

"What! Rukia, are you crazy?" I argued, slightly straining against her weight and the awkward position I was in.

"Ichigo, just do it! Let me go!" I couldn't. I couldn't just let her fall God knows how many feet! "Trust me," she pleaded and completely let go of my hand, causing me to jerk slightly forward.

"Rukia, don't be an idiot!" I gripped her tighter but she was yanking her hand so I would let go. "_Rukia_," I growled.

"Let. Go. Why don't you trust me?"

I squeezed my eyes shut and in the heat of the moment, I gave in to her selfish words. "Of course I trust you, so you better not die."

Without a second thought to divert my attention, I let go.

She fell.

She didn't scream and that somehow made it worse. Suddenly, my legs were pulled from behind and I was sliding back on my stomach, away from the hole and to more stable ground. Renji dropped my legs and grabbed my shirt front, hauling me to my feet. "Come on! Let's get out of here! The building is coming down!"

"Wait! Rukia!" I strained against his grasp trying to jerk back to the hole.

He grabbed me tighter and dragged me down to the stairs leading to the next floor. "She's fine. It was only nine or ten feet."

"_Only_ nine feet! I cracked a _rib_ falling nine feet!" I argued as he half-dragged and half-ran with me down the wobbly steps.

"She's tough," he said matter-of-factly. "And she was prepared for it, unlike you who just completely fell."

I growled as items kept falling haphazardly. "Rukia! Are you okay?" I yelled into the dark hallway as we ran.

"Ichigo!" I heard her answering shout echo to my ears. "Hurry up!"

A few more feet and I stumbled to a stop.

"Fuck!" Renjj yelled, getting ready to punch the rubble that blocked our path. It spread across the entire width of the floor and reached almost as high as the ceiling.

"Ichigo! Renji!" Rukia shouted from the other side.

"Start digging!" I ordered. It was our only hope at getting out. So be it if it took a while, it was all we got.

"That's crazy!" Rukia objected but I could still hear her moving things out of the way.

I yanked the wreckage out of the way with everything I had and Renji did the same. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep the pain from my side subsided.

"Uh…Ichigo?"

I glanced at Renji but kept pulling things out. He was standing a few feet back and staring intently at the ceiling. I frowned and looked up. My eyes landed on an iron beam that was used to hold up the floor above us. It was barely hanging and with every shake of the aftershock, it loosened a bit more, evidentially about to tumble down on top of Renji and I, bringing along tons of piles of concrete. I felt my eyes widen.

"Well don't just stand there!" I yelled at him. "Let's get this out of our way."

He nodded and continued to move the rubble.

"Are you getting any progress?" Rukia's voice drifted up to us.

"Sort of," I said, pulling out another random object in the mess when my hand suddenly stung. I could feel liquid stream down my palm to my fingertips. "Dammitt," I growled as I dropped the glass from an overhead light. I ignored the stinging and blood and focused on getting out.

Somehow, we succeeded in digging out a fairly large hole. I wasn't sure how long it would hold until the weight on top would give in and it would all tumble down, making us have to start over. "_Go!_" I ordered Renji, shoving him and he ducked and ran through.

As I was about to head through after him, the aftershock gave one last final rumble and that's when my luck ceased. A heavy slab of concert dropped, landing on my back. I didn't want to, but the connection made me scream out in pain as I dropped to the floor. At the same time, the beam was descending and at any moment it would fall and trap me behind. "Ichigo, run! Quick!" Rukia screamed from the other side.

A flash of red came into my vision and I saw Renji deftly run back to where I was stuck. He involuntarily shoved the debris off me and braced the beam up on his shoulders, numerous concrete rubble essentially piling up onto of it.

"Renji…" I said hesitantly, standing up and locking my eyes on the pounds of wreckage. Once he let go of that beam it would fall and all that rubble would cascade down and crush him. He wouldn't make it out. He just sacrificed himself for me.

His eyes went wide as if he just realized what I was thinking. "Hurry up! It's…fine. Go!"

He was obviously lying. It was _not_ fine. "No way! There has to be a way." I looked around frantically for anything that could help.

He cringed as more weight fell onto his shoulders. "Go, you idiot, before we both go down! I didn't risk my life for you to die along with me!"

"Ichigo!" Rukia screamed as more stuff fell, closing the hole we just dug out. If I stayed, we would both be dead. What was I supposed to do?! I gave Renji one last look and rested my hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you. I'm sorry."

He grunted. "My wife's dead, Ichigo. Our son won't have anyone to look after him. I want you and Rukia to raise him, got it?"

"I will. He'll be safe, you have my word." The words tumbled out on their own accord but they were the truth.

He nodded, satisfied. "He's a good kid. I can tell how much you care for Rukia and how much she cares for you in return, so I know he will be in good hands. Now seriously, _go_!"

I felt torn as resignation seeped into me. This was his dying wish, I had to accept it. I couldn't interfere with his pride. "You're a good man, Renji. I'll be sure to let your son know you were a hero."

His stoic face fell. His eyes glistened softly and he smiled wanly. "Thank you. Now get out of here."

I stepped out and as I turned to give him one last look, the beam fell, entitling him to his fate.

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_**A/N: Did I just kill my favorite character of all time?! Yes, yes I did. I'm still a bit torn up about it! But if you aren't a fan of Renji…then I guess this wasn't that sad. Well, there's still more to come ;) Again, sorry for the long wait. Please continue reviewing! They really help with my inspiration on the following chapter. Thanks!**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait! Hopefully you love this chapter and just feel amazing enough to leave a review? Haha. This chapter isn't just in Ichigo's point of view, so keep a look out for who's POV it says!**_

_**Thanks for following: Fox of Darkness, Gripping The Blade Of Glory, KrAzI JaY, Star fire girl 788, TheHedgehog22, pinky357, IchigoMoonCutter, Hekka, Ru-tama, hothead11, ichirukiluv, Tatiana-Azuma, lone ruler, TheFlameAngel, Thornspike, Topaz Miuki, Zsign KRay, Hellooworldx3, hhflyka, Ichi-Ruki4Eva, flealoveshatinghislife, falconrukichi, hunterofcomedy, asnah699, the hotpocket hunter, OptimisticQueenRandom, Orikim, chituhr, OutlawedAngel, Salaeren, DinieLuvYunho, Poofa, Cisusi, fokker333, Vershaa, Cerice Belle, LoopyLailaLaughsALot, Rukia Heart, badluck221, mooopower, summerrayah, Blastorama101, Animevy116, Neliayui, ImSeriousBro, Hallie-Clancy, and kyurikochan!**_

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_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter**_

**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**

My throat felt tight with regret and my stomach felt like a rock, my lungs constricting and making my breathing shallow. Maybe I could have talked him out of it. Maybe I should have taken his place. After all, he had a six year old son. _Kenta_, I remembered. How was I to explain to Kenta that his father would never come home from work? How would he react? Not only was Kenta motherless, but now fatherless.

_And it was my fault._

How could I let that happen right in front of me? Why was everyone I wanted to protect dying? First my mother, my boss Ukitake, my friend Renji, and all the workers that were above me. I've failed everyone.

"Rukia," my voice was strained and my throat was dry, causing my voice to be almost husky.

We were walking down another unlit hallway side by side. The adrenaline disappeared and I could now feel every bump and bruise on my body. My movements became slower and my back slightly hunched as I braced most of my weight onto the short girl next to me.

She was silent the whole time, her face a mask. She didn't want to show it, but she was hurting.

"Hey," I said softly, pulling her to a stop. I turned her to face me but she avoided my eyes. "Rukia…" I tipped her chin up and she finally looked at me as a tear silently slid down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb. "Don't cry, okay?"

"It's just all finally hitting me and it feels like I'm suffocating. Ukitake…is dead. Renji…is…dead." Her voice broke as sobs wrenched through her chest taking deep breaths but it didn't help.

"Shh," I shushed her as I wrapped my arms around her and she reluctantly hugged me back. Her shoulders shook and I rubbed her back in small circles, oblivious to the recent cuts she had from the glass.

"Ichigo," her voice was slightly muffled from where it was pressed against my chest. "Don't go. _Please_ don't go," she cried.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise, Rukia." I tightened my grip and we swayed on our feet.

She stepped back and nodded softly. Her violet eyes were slightly rimmed with red and yet, were completely hypnotizing. In that moment I realized that she wasn't like the others. Rukia was different. She was strong and independent. She wouldn't take no for an answer and knew how to pack a punch. It made me want to be in her world. I wanted to feel her heart. She had opened my eyes. For her, I'd risk it all.

She stared just below my nose and for a second, I wondered what she was looking at when I realized. I subconsciously leaned forward and she did the same, looking nervous. Hell, I was nervous! I didn't know what I was doing. What had me do it was the thought that I would lose her, and this was our last chance.

"Ichigo," she closed her eyes, lips slightly parted and that's when I finally did what I've wanted to do from the start. I kissed her.

She responded immediately. Her mouth was warm, the touch of her lips were softer than I would have imagined. Rukia opened her mouth with a low moan. She raised her hands to wrap around my neck, having to stretch up on her tip toes to reach my height and held tightly as she began to kiss me back. We kissed passionately, holding each other in a warm embrace. After what felt like hours, our mouths finally parted, and our eyes finally met. I continued to hold her, silently staring into her eyes. After giving me a breathless smile, she placed her head against my chest and exhaled. I could feel the beating of her heart pound and stroked her hair gently, placing another kiss on top of her head.

"As long as you're in my arms, I'm happy," I told her honestly and heard her softly chuckle. I replayed my words in my head and could feel my face growing red. _What did I just say?_ That was beyond stupid. What guy says that!

"And to think I wasn't going to come into work today," she mused.

I smiled, refusing to let my stupidity get the best of me. "I'm glad," I flicked her nose and then quickly dodged her oncoming punch. "We should probably get out of here."

Her eyes widened as if just realizing we were still in the demolished building. "What are we doing after this?" she suddenly asked.

"What do you mean?" I gave her a sideways look as we quickly walked down the long passages.

"Well, Renji wanted us to raise his son. How is that going to work?"

"We already live in the same apartment complex. One of us will move into the other. So, how do you feel about yours?"

"It's okay, I guess," she answered with a shrug.

"Well my hot water doesn't work," I stated right off the bat.

"I guess you're moving in with me." Her face suddenly paled. "What is Kenta going to call us? I don't want to take the place of his mother and take Renji's wife's title."

"I see what you mean. We'll just see what he feels comfortable with. For now, he can just call me Ichigo and you Rukia."

She nodded. "It's probably for the best. We should probably start running. I don't like the noises I'm hearing above us."

I quickly agreed and we started to run, dodging various holes in the ground. The walls were completely obliterated around us. It was as if the angel of calamity was shadowing me. We finally reached what I believed to be the final stretch of the ominous stairs. I gave them a dark scowl as Rukia stopped. I turned to look at her questionably. Why had she stopped? We were almost out!

"Rukia, we have to go!" I urged and started descending the crumbling stairs.

"Right." She seemed to shake herself before we ran down them simultaneously.

**Rukia's POV**

I was running beside Ichigo, my mind clouded with thoughts. How had things moved so fast? It didn't seem real. It seemed like my day would be the same old, same old. I got a call from Ichigo to come into work and I took my time actually getting to work because I wanted to piss him off some more.

Then an earthquake had to happen and now I'm literally running for my life. I took my heels off long ago when they continued to pinch my feet and now I was stupidly running barefoot and managing to land on every piece of glass. I didn't think Ichigo noticed I was barefoot. But then again, I didn't think he even realized he was missing a shoe.

Not only was my back burning from the glass that had struck me, but my feet were sore and I was starving. I felt short of breath and emptiness inside me every time I thought about Renji and Ukitake.

Was it my fault Renji died? If I had snuck away to look for Ichigo a little more quietly, Renji wouldn't have noticed me leaving the group and run back to tackle me.

And now here I was, selfishly thinking about saving myself. Not even wondering what happened to anyone else. What was wrong with me? Was this behavior normal? What was going on in Ichigo's head? Did he think I was a bad person when I said to not save the workers that were above us? I hoped not. I was only being rational.

I sighed as I continued to run. Occasionally, I would notice Ichigo cast his eyes down to me as if checking to make sure I was okay. How did I get so lucky for him to suddenly be a part of my life?

_Lucky…_

No, that wasn't right. We _had_ to live together for Kenta. So is that why he kissed me? Did he feel _forced_ to have feelings for me?

I stopped running, staring at the dark steps. What was I doing? Was any of this real? My feelings for Ichigo obviously were. Or did I just want to believe that in the current situation we were in?

"Rukia, we have to go!" Ichigo urged, interrupting my thoughts and he started descending the crumbling stairs.

"Right," I answered, in a daze. With that said we flew down the stairs. Ichigo was taking them three at a time and was farther ahead of me due to the fact that he had a head start and the blessing of longer legs. "Ichigo! Will you wait up?" I yelled as I was falling behind and by the looks of things, the walls and ground didn't look like they would hold for much longer.

Ichigo stopped at the bottom of the stairs and spun back to look at me. "Jump!" he yelled. I didn't see the point but I listened and trusted him. I leaped into the air, about to fall into his waiting arms when a loud creak was heard overhead and a second later, I felt a huge weight and searing pain go through my leg. I yelled out in pain and surprise as the weight increased on my leg, efficiently weighing me down to fall straight down and my arms instantly flew out to break my fall.

I managed to lock eyes with Ichigo, his amber eyes were wide and I saw him reach out his hand for me, but he wasn't fast enough. My arms broke some of my fall but my head slammed into the concrete ground, causing black spots to dance across my vision. I lay there, pain rocking my body.

"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, though his voice was muffled, like he was far away.

**Ichigo's POV**

Rukia's face contorted and blanched from pain. In a daze, I ran to where her crumpled form lay. I felt the strong presence of agony and fear cut into me like a knife. To see her lying there caused something to grasp at my heart with claws. All my adrenaline faded. I felt like a dead man. _I should be…_

There was the faintest shadow of a smile on her lips as she looked up at me with her violet eyes, but I saw right through her strong demeanor. She realized and gave a soft groan. I fell to my knees and cradled her head in my hands.

"Rukia…Rukia, I'm sorry. Hang on. I'm going to get you out. I promise," I told her urgently. I unwillingly let her go and stared at the massive clumps of concrete that crushed her. In a blind rage, I started shoving various objects off her like they weighed nothing and in the process, strained my crack rib. "Rukia, keep talking!" I demanded through clenched teeth. I heard her cough.

"I'll try," she said, weakly. Then: "Dammit." I continued to throw things off, driven by madness. "Ichigo…"

"I'm right here!" I answered desperately, not stopping from my unbearable task. Smoke from the rubble started wafting up to me and stung my eyes. As it got thicker and blacker, I became confused. This smoke didn't fit. I hastily snapped my eyes up to a closed off room and could see a steady stream of black smoke billow out of the cracks in the door. Then I saw the unmistakable glow of orange.

No.

_No!_

"Ichigo," Rukia said, hesitantly, "I think…there's…"

"I_ know_. Hang on, you're almost out. How are you doing? Can you feel anything?"

"My head hurts…it feels like it's going to explode. Everything's blurry." As if to confirm it, she gave a soft whimper.

_A concussion_, I realized. "Anything else?" I demanded. "Anything at all?"

"I—I can't feel my legs." The reality must have hit in the next second. "Oh, God, Ichigo! I can't feel them unless I think about them!"

My eyes suddenly widened. "Don't move! You hear me, Rukia? Do not move."

The cement that fell from above only covered her lower half and she was lying on her left side, trying to support herself on her left elbow. In a flash, I saw her face mask in pain before she collapsed and rested her head on the ground.

I growled and shoved the last of it off. I ran to her front and placed my hands under her arms and dragged her back. Her head lolled back and I realized her eyes were closed. Not only that, but one of her legs was bent at an odd angle and were banged up. Since she was only wearing a skirt, her bare legs were exposed and cut up. Her shoes were also missing. I saw a flash of an off color of white poking out of her one broken leg and my stomach dropped.

Carefully to not jostle her and risk anything, I cradled her light body in my arms.

Flames from the electrical fire were beginning to lick their way around the edges of the door and the light had me realize that Rukia had a nasty gash on her forehead that was steadily pumping out blood.

I panicked. I had to get her out of here _now_! I spun on my heels and flew down the steps.

**Byakuya's POV**

"Sir!"

I ignored the annoying voice of authority and continued ahead.

"_Sir!_" Hands clamped down on my shoulder and I spun to glare at who dared to touch me. The bald man, who a badge and a shiny name tag that read _I. Madarame_, didn't flinch from my icy glare. Instead he at least had the decency to release his hand. "I'm sorry," he continued, now that he had my attention, "but I can't allow you to go in that building."

I hardened my gaze. "I must." This time as I took a few more steps to the entrance—what was left of it that was—to the crumbling, smoking, and yellow taped building, two more officers blocked my path. The man on the left was lankier with chin length dark hair and ridiculous feathers and his name tag read, _Y. Ayasegawa_. The other was large and burly, hands in massive fists and I caught his name tag to read, _M. Omaeda_.

"Turn around, now," Feather-boy ordered. "We are doing everything to rescue the remaining occupants. You cannot interfere. Stay put."

I felt my resolve breaking. "Do you have the slightest idea _who_ you are addressing?" I demanded.

Omaeda crossed his arms. "Yeah, yeah. Byakuya Kuchiki. But your name and rank don't matter here. Now let us do our job."

I frowned. Did they not understand that my sister was trapped in that weak excuse of a building?

"Do not have us ask twice," Madarame snapped. "Or we'll be forced to arrest you."

I was about to reply when a new hand landed on my other shoulder. I turned to see a man I thought I'd never come across again. "Isshin Kurosaki," I recalled.

"Just listen to them, Byakuya," Isshin said, solemnly. He looked worn out and worried. "I'm sure—" he swallowed and gave a glance to the main doors. "I'm sure they will make it out."

I didn't believe him. No one had one out of those doors for the past half hour.

"I'm going in," I stated and—ignoring the three officers—stalked forward.

"Dammit, Byakuya!" Madarame growled. "_Stop! _You'll be arrested! I'll have no choice! It's Zaraki's orders."

I said nothing.

Suddenly, I heard a grunt followed by what sounded like bodies hitting the hard ground.

"Hey! What the hell are you doing?" Omaeda yelled.

I squinted my eyes slightly and turned around to see Isshin efficiently landing a blow into Omaeda's face—knocking him out completely.

"Go!" Isshin yelled, struggling against Madarame. "I'll hold them off! Find Rukia! And find Ichigo!"

I regarded him carefully. "I'm going for Rukia," I told him clearly. "But if I see your son…" I chose my next words carefully. "I'll see what I can do."

"I'll be in as soon as I can!" he shouted as I turned my back and made my way inside the Seireitei Building.

**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**

_**A/N: New poll on my profile for this story! Very important! I also am writing another story called Last Chance! And if you could also leave a review for Hunted, that would make my day simply fantastic! And of course, REVIEW! I love, love, love them! A little more than halfway to 100 reviews! Let's make this dream Reality (haha…Reality)!**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**Thanks for following: Fox of Darkness, Gripping The Blade Of Glory, KrAzI JaY, Star fire girl 788, TheHedgehog22, pinky357, IchigoMoonCutter, Hekka, Ru-tama, hothead11, ichirukiluv, Tatiana-Azuma, lone ruler, TheFlameAngel, Thornspike, Topaz Miuki, Zsign KRay, Hellooworldx3, hhflyka, Ichi-Ruki4Eva, flealoveshatinghislife, falconrukichi, hunterofcomedy, asnah699, the hotpocket hunter, OptimisticQueenRandom, Orikim, chituhr, OutlawedAngel, Salaeren, DinieLuvYunho, Poofa, Cisusi, fokker333, Vershaa, Cerice Belle, LoopyLailaLaughsALot, Rukia Heart, badluck221, mooopower, summerrayah, Blastorama101, Animevy116, Neliayui, ImSeriousBro, Hallie-Clancy, kyurikochan, Daxxter, HitsuHinalover, T-BEARFEAR, Ryouko Nakamura-chan, NarutoLuver896, ichiruki3, naruhina4ever101, DaKingOfHearts, neigewhitemoon, ilovebks,**_

_**Thanks for favoring: ThatPaladin, Mack333, Ru-tama, Rukia Heart, Tatiana-Azuma, Star fire girl 788, Zsign KRay, andtherainstops, hothead11, flealoveshatinghislife, Rineal, falconrukichi, OptimisticQueenRandom, imaprodigy, purplepam, DinieLuvYunho, Salaeren, OutlawedAngel, Darkkiss15, Divine Grey, RunnaKun, Cre8iveIsMoi, sisteraptor, saya97, Animevy116, ImSeriousBro, Mdizzle181, kyurikochan, Hallie-Clancy, aryy.K, shinesawada07, HitsuHinalover, T-BEARFEAR, khfan forlife, NarutoLuver896, Ranngoon, naruhina4ever101, neigewhitemoon, shadow chicken,**_

_**Wow! Just look at that list! And all the reviews! You guys are AMAZING! I never thought I'd see this many reviews! Thank you all!**_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter**_

**~/~/~/~**

**Byakuya's POV**

Immediately after entering the building, I could feel the heat radiate off the walls. I squinted my eyes against the harsh smoke, straining to see anything recognizable. This was absurd. The building clearly was no more. Was this inevitable? Was Rukia even alive?

She was. Some how I knew. Rukia was strong _and _a Kuchiki. He wouldn't stop no matter what. But nonetheless, I would find her. I promised Hisana I would protect Rukia with my life, and nothing would stop me from keeping my promise.

**Ichigo's POV**

Hell. Hell on earth. I not only was running for my life, but Rukia's as well. I kept glancing down at her still form, making sure her chest was still moving up and down. I knew she had a concussion and the thought of her injuries causing serious damage scared me. I was _scared_.

My body was aching, my lungs burning as I ran through the clouds of smoke and ash that was quickly accumulating. The skin on the bottom of my feet ached. I was pretty sure that some of it had been scraped off with pieces of glass embedded deep inside. The skin on my back was feeling accessibly hot from the fire that was quickly advancing behind us. I coughed but pressed on, protecting Rukia as best as I could from the hell that we were currently in.

Finally, I reached the bottom of the stairs, but I was faced with another problem. How the _hell _do I open the door! I turned around and using my back, pushed against the door, hoping that it would open.

It didn't.

Something must be blocking it from the other side. I pushed and threw myself at the door.

I began yelling, desperate for any help, "Help! We're _trapped!_Help us!" The smoke was getting to my eyes and making them water. I looked down to Rukia and saw that she, too, was having trouble. Her breathing was labored and her beautiful pale skin was ashen and covered in soot. "Help us!" I slammed my back up against the door before it finally began to budge.

The fact that it moved gave me a spur of adrenaline as I began slamming my body with even more purpose. Rukia's body thrashing back and forth in my arms with each time I threw my back against the metal door.

Finally the door trudged open slowly and I heard a deep voice demand, "Get moving." My eyes widened and the shock of seeing Byakuya Kuchiki stopped me in my tracks. "Did you not hear what I said. Mo—" His gray eyes landed on the helpless girl I clutched in my arms. His mouth set in a firm line and I could feel how livid he was. The waves of anger that rolled off the dignified man were almost hotter than the raging inferno behind us.

"What are you doing?" Byakuya commanded and it seemed it took every fiber of his being to not yell.

"Help her, _please!_" I screamed in heartbreak as Rukia lay, limp. He ripped her out of my arms. "No—" I choked out as her weight left. That wasn't what I meant or wanted.

"Let her go," he ordered. "You are not good enough to protect her and it clearly shows." He turned and hurriedly walked out. I growled after him and clutched my side where my rib throbbed even worse now.

"Dammit, Byakuya! She is…" I paused. She was what? Better in my arms? Safer?

"What do you believe? That she would be safer with you? The fact of the matter is that she is in this condition which proves that you can not keep her safe, so leave, leave this building and forget about her, you are not worthy of my sister." He continued his way out of the building.

I fell to my knees, the adrenaline draining out of my body as I felt colder the further away Rukia was from me. My vision blurred and I could feel every break, ache, and pain in my body. From my broken rib, to the tiny piece of glass that was imbedded in my shoulder blade.

I became cold, my thoughts no longer clear as I looked around me. The air was heavy with smoke, which was thick and black, the ground littered in debris, fires, and various dead bodies. I saw something in my line of vision, running, coming towards me.

The next thing I knew, I was being caught by a woman who had pale skin and icy blue eyes. Her pale lavender hair was pulled back into a low messy bun, although some pieces were in her face and it was starting to get covered in soot—making it appear gray, but to my failing eyes, it looked quite black.

"Rukia?" I asked, my voice raspy.

"No, my name is Sode no Shirayuki. I'm here to help you," her voice was warm and soothing. She turned her head and it was then that I realized she wore a small oxygen mask and a medium sized tank of oxygen strapped to her back. She reached behind her and pulled out a separate mask and stretched it to my face. "Here, this will help you breath." She turned once more before yelling, "Zangetsu! I need help over here!" I didn't know who she was talking to but I realized the smell and burst of fresh air that was rushed to my lungs.

In no time, a man who wore a uniform similar to the woman's, ran towards us. He had shoulder length black wavy hair tied in a pony tail at the nape of his neck. They started a conversation, but the sound never reached my slowly failing ears. I closed my eyes, relishing in the cool, clean oxygen that my lungs greedily sucked in. I vaguely felt hands lift me and carry me away, my body painfully thrashing much like Rukia's did when I was carrying her.

Finally…_finally_, I was outside. The fact only made itself present to me because of the crisp air and cool wind that soothed my skin.

I thought I heard my name being called, but everything was slowly beginning to slip away from me.

Is this how mom felt when she died?

I closed my eyes happily letting the darkness encase me in it's numbing nothingness.

**Isshin's POV**

"Someone's coming out!" Omaeda shouted from where his face was pressed up into the ground from my hand. "Look, _look_!" he desperately tried to get through to me. "It's bound to be your son! So get off!"

I released him and stood up from the ground. It wasn't Ichigo that came out, but Byakuya carrying someone with dark hair. I looked past him to the open door, waiting for that unmistakeable orange hair. When it didn't come, I grew worried.

"Byakuya!" I bellowed. "Where's Ichigo? Where's my son!"

Byakuya didn't respond, but strides past me as if I didn't exist and took Rukia over to an ambulance where a paramedic by the name of Isane, who already helped countless others, took her and placed her on a stretcher. I ran over to them and threw my hand on Byakuya's shoulder and harshly spun him around to face me.

"He is alive," Byakuya answered. "I could not control how fast he kept up."

My grip on his clothing tightened. "Where is he?"

His eyes moved over the top of my head. "Your son is there."

I turned to see a tall man and an equally tall woman running out of the building. In the arms of the older man lay a younger man who was dirtied and injured, but with the striking orange hair that could only belong to one person.

_Ichigo._

All thoughts of the prick Byakuya left in my mind vanished as I ran to where they had my son, but no matter how fast I ran it seemed I couldn't get there fast enough.

"Someone get us a damn stretcher!" The woman yelled as she pulled off her oxygen mask. The closer I got the more I saw. Ichigo was covered in soot, burns etched on his skin as well as cuts and most likely bruises. His eyes were closed and an oxygen mask was on his face.

When I approached them they had finally received the much needed stretcher. The sight of seeing my son being pulled away on a stretcher clenched my heart painfully. The paramedics quickly loaded Ichigo in the back of an ambulance and I pushed my way through bystanders and officers.

"Let me through!" I shouted above everyone. "That's my son!" A path cleared and a paramedic nodded to an officer. I jumped up in the back beside Ichigo and they shut the doors. Seconds later, we were rushing to the hospital.

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

_**A/N: How was that? Short, I know, but I wanted to post something, anything, for you to read! I've come to realize that this story is going to go far beyond 10 chapters, so, yay to that! If you all would be so thoughtful to leave a review, THAT WOULD BE FLIPPING AMAZING!  
**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**Thanks for following: Fox of Darkness, Gripping The Blade Of Glory, KrAzI JaY, Star fire girl 788, TheHedgehog22, pinky357, IchigoMoonCutter, Hekka, Ru-tama, hothead11, ichirukiluv, Tatiana-Azuma, lone ruler, TheFlameAngel, Thornspike, Topaz Miuki, Zsign KRay, Hellooworldx3, hhflyka, Ichi-Ruki4Eva, flealoveshatinghislife, falconrukichi, hunterofcomedy, asnah699, the hotpocket hunter, OptimisticQueenRandom, Orikim, chituhr, OutlawedAngel, Salaeren, DinieLuvYunho, Poofa, Cisusi, fokker333, Vershaa, Cerice Belle, LoopyLailaLaughsALot, Rukia Heart, badluck221, mooopower, summerrayah, Blastorama101, Animevy116, Neliayui, ImSeriousBro, Hallie-Clancy, kyurikochan, Daxxter, HitsuHinalover, T-BEARFEAR, Ryouko Nakamura-chan, NarutoLuver896, ichiruki3, naruhina4ever101, DaKingOfHearts, neigewhitemoon, ilovebks, ProjXPsyClone, Sakura-Yuki15, starzforu, Luvvvy, and Nobody's Apple.**_

_**Thanks for favoring: ThatPaladin, Mack333, Ru-tama, Rukia Heart, Tatiana-Azuma, Star fire girl 788, Zsign KRay, andtherainstops, hothead11, flealoveshatinghislife, Rineal, falconrukichi, OptimisticQueenRandom, imaprodigy, purplepam, DinieLuvYunho, Salaeren, OutlawedAngel, Darkkiss15, Divine Grey, RunnaKun, Cre8iveIsMoi, sisteraptor, saya97, Animevy116, ImSeriousBro, Mdizzle181, kyurikochan, Hallie-Clancy, aryy.K, shinesawada07, HitsuHinalover, T-BEARFEAR, khfan forlife, NarutoLuver896, Ranngoon, naruhina4ever101, neigewhitemoon, shadow chicken, ProjXPsyClone, Ashezo, Luvvvy, and Nobody's Apple.**_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**_

_**Enjoy! Very sad chapter ahead!**_

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

**Rukia's POV**

Everything was dark. It felt like I was being pulled into a dreamless sleep but I kept fighting against it. I could distinctly hear a faint beeping and muffled voices. What felt like fingers poked and probed me. Through all of this, I couldn't move. I felt paralyzed. I couldn't even open my eyes no matter how desperately I desired to. Part of me wanted to continue to sink into the quiet abyss of nothing, but another part refused. Something was telling me to keep fighting. There was a reason I needed to live…

* * *

**Ichigo's POV**

I heard a groan before realizing that I was the one that initiated it. My eyes blinked open against a harsh light and my vision was hazy. I took in my surroundings slowly.

I was in a hospital room—that much was clear without the bleach white walls and the strong stench of medicine. I had an IV strapped to my arm and some clamp on my finger that monitored my heart beat. Bandages covered my arms and I felt my ribs were taped.

I was awake.

I was alive.

The door in front of my bed softly clicked open. A nurse with long black hair in a braid poked her head in and—after seeing me awake—smiled warmly.

"Ah, good to see you are awake," she chirped and came toward me. "How are you feeling?"

I took her words into consideration for a second before another thought crashed into my head. My eyes widened and I shouted, "Where's Rukia? Is she okay? Is she here?" I winced and gasped, placing a hand on my ribs.

The nurse frowned. "You shouldn't yell. Your rib isn't fully healed. You're lucky it hadn't pierced your lung."

I growled but brought my voice down. It seemed her voice held more power than Byakuya even if she hadn't even raised it. "Rukia. Where. Is. She?"

The nurse, whose name tag read Dr. Unohana, placed a gentle hand on my shoulder. I guess she wasn't just a nurse after all. "I'm going to give you some more medicine. It'll make you feel tired so you can sleep," she explained.

"_No! _Rukia Kuchiki!" I blurted, desperate for answers before the drugs took affect.

Her eyes seemed to cloud over. "I'm sorry," she finally said as she injected more into my IV.

It only took seconds before I could feel my eyelids grow heavy and close. And with that, I was asleep.

* * *

**Rukia's POV**

Flashes. That's all I could process in my subconscious. A vaguely familiar face with amber eyes kept flickering into my mind…who was he? Why couldn't I put a name to that face? I _knew_ him. That hair…what was wrong with me? Why couldn't I remember? Why couldn't I _move_?

Very slowly, I heard a bubble of voices start to break through. I fought. I so desperately fought to HEAR them clearer. Though from the outside, I was sure my body was as still as ever. On the inside I was thrashing and screaming, trying to stay at least semi-conscious.

"Kuchiki-sama, you will have to wait outside," a feminine voice ordered with a hint of remorse.

Faint, light pressure stroked my cheek. "I understand," a male voice returned who felt close enough to have belonged to the pressure on my skin.

"She won't wake up anytime soon," the woman stated. "I know she's your sister, but you have to wait out in the lobby."

I heard a shift of weight and a chair scrape back against the floor. "If you fail to heal her—"

"Byakuya," the woman—who was probably a nurse—stopped him. "We can only do so much."

I was starting to lose the tiny hold I had. Their words were being sucked away and I was falling into the blackness. I caught a few words that I wished I hadn't. Words like: _paralyzed_, _concussion_, _amnesia_, and then one word…a name rather, that meant so much more. _Kurosaki_.

_Ichigo_.

_Ichigo!_

I slipped from the little resolve I had. I couldn't breathe! My heart felt like it stopped. I struggled and fought, but the darkness finally won.

I let go.

* * *

**Ichigo's POV**

The second time waking up was worse. I could feel every burn and break. My arms and legs felt stiff and my head was groggy. I rubbed my forehead gingerly.

"Ichigo?"

I stopped my movement and brought down my hand, staring at my dad who sat on a small black couch at the foot of the bed.

"Dad?"

He smiled. "Glad to see you. Your sisters are downstairs in the cafeteria. We thought—" he took a breath, "we didn't know _what_to think. But, hey—" a different look crossed his features, "being a Kurosaki made you strong!"

I rolled my eyes, sitting up straighter.

"Ichi-nii!"

"Hm?" I looked up to the door to see Yuzu standing there, breathing deeply and clutching a bowl of curry. Karin stood behind her looking relieved. Then, Yuzu flew toward me and skidded to a stop mere centimeters from me. "Hey, Yuzu."

"We were so worried! What happened? Are you okay? Any permanent damage?"

"Yuzu," Karin scolded. "Don't bombard him with questions. He just woke up."

"Oh, sorry, Ichigo," she automatically apologized.

"Girls," Dad began, standing up from the couch. "Why don't you take a walk around. I have to tell Ichigo something."

I was as confused as Yuzu and Karin, but they complied. Karin gave me one last look and gave me a small smile before following Yuzu out. As soon as they left, I turned back to dad.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Ichigo, it's Rukia. I think you should go and see her." He wouldn't meet my eyes, but just her name had me ready to jump out of the constricting hospital bed.

"Where is she? Which room?"

He finally met my eyes, although a solemn look clouded them. "You'll have to hurry. She's in room 14D."

I wasted no time in throwing back the covers and pulling out the IV that was in my arm, wincing slightly at the adhesive that clung to my skin.

"Try not to be seen. You're suppose to be hospitalized." He looked me up and down. "Er—son, perhaps some clothes?"

I looked down and saw I was dressed in one of those ridiculous hospital gowns. "I don't have anything else!"

"Hang on," he ran back to the couch where a black duffel bag sat. He unzipped it and pulled out some pants and my old _Nice Vibe_ T-shirt from back when I was in high school. "Here," he handed them to me. I took them greatly and he turned around while I changed. Suddenly, the heart monitor went crazy and it's loud beeping filled the small space.

"Looks like you died," my dad smirked. "Now you better run. I'll come up with something."

I placed my hand on his shoulder and met his eyes. "Thanks."

He nodded and I ran out the room. I turned a fast corner to the left and flattened myself against the wall as doctors came running from the right to enter my room. I pushed off against the wall and ran to the stairs, flying down them and to the first level where Rukia's room was.

No one asked any questions or stopped me as I dodged around patients and guests. As I ran down the hallways, my eyes scanned each room number.

_14A._

_14B._

_14C._

I stopped outside the closed door. _14D. _On the sign by the door, a little slip underneath the room number read, _Rukia M. Kuchiki._

Without another thought, I flung open the door and was stopped cold in the doorway.

"What are _you_ doing here?" Byakuya hissed. From his tone, it was clear he really despised me.

"To see Rukia," I clarified.

"Haven't I already told you to leave her be?"

I was growing annoyed so I couldn't control the next words that came out of my mouth. "You didn't exactly save her, either. You're no better than me."

He punched me. It happened so fast that my mind only processed a blur of motion and then a sharp, hot sting on my cheek. I rocked back on my heels, caught off guard before anger bubbled up inside me and I became furious.

"You should know your place, _boy_," he snipped.

I lowered my chin and glared at him the way I'd seen Rukia do when she was about to flip shit. "Let's get this straight. If you don't want us to be equals, fine. But you can't take Rukia away from me."

"I can if I order to keep you away. I still control the majority of things."

I laughed, a bitter, dry sound. "I'd like to see you order someone to keep me away. You aren't exactly a well liked man."

Byakuya was speechless. This had to be a first. "I know you're scared and you're angry," I continued, "but don't take it out on me. And if you hit me again, I swear to God I'll hit you back." I held his gaze until he finally leaned back against the wall.

"How long have you been here?" he asked, in a very different tone.

"I don't know," I replied honestly.

Byakuya shut his eyes. "It will not go well. Her recovery is…under way. She will not be able to hold on for much longer."

"Not yet," I growled through clenched teeth but he paid me no mind.

"As for you, Kurosaki, you have no business here if you are recovered, so go back home," Byakuya proposed.

"I'm not leaving until I know that Rukia is okay!" I refused.

"She will be fine."

"I'll know that when she opens her eyes!" I asserted, balling my fists up.

Byakuya regarded me carefully for a second and then closed his eyes, sighing softly and pinching the bridge of his nose. His eyes then met mine. "Very well. It seems that I can not force you to leave. You may stay. But keep your voice down."

"Yes, sir," I decided to be formal to him since he was letting me stay. I wanted to prove to him that I did, in fact, have a respectful side.

"Perhaps I should thank you. As much as I hate to say, without you, she may not have made it out. But there is also the fact that if you were not there, she would have jumped on the helicopter in the first place and would have bypassed all the injuries she has now."

"Rukia would still have not gone on that helicopter," I countered. "She wouldn't have left all the other workers there. That is a fact."

He stared at me for a second more before turning around and walking out the door. I watched him leave. _Finally, I broke through the bastard._I smirked lightly at the thought before it disappeared as I turned back to the hospital bed.

Rukia looked like she was barely hanging on. I swallowed a lump in my throat as I made my way towards her. I sat down in the bedside chair heavily.

"Rukia…if you can hear me," I began and grabbed her cold hand and stroked lightly across her knuckles. The touch didn't register through to her. She still remained with her eyes closed and as still as a statue. "I'm sorry. I'm so, _so_, sorry. None of this was suppose to happen. But you'll be okay. I know you will." I glanced down at her cast covered leg sticking out of the bed sheet. Then my eyes traveled up to her bandaged shoulders and wrapped head. "You'll be more than okay. Soon, you'll be throwing insults at me and making fun of my hair. And then I'll make fun of your height and call you a midget. And with that, you will throw a punch at my face, which I'll easily dodge because I know you too well." I wasn't sure if I was actually trying to convince myself more than her. "And then I'd kiss you and never let go."

I sighed and placed my head down so my forehead rested against the side railing of the bed. "I love you…Rukia," I breathed. "So I need you to wake up. You need to hear those words. I should have said them sooner. You deserved to hear them sooner." It was then that I realized I was crying. Tears silently ran down my cheeks and onto the thin hospital blanket. "Please, Rukia," I squeezed my eyes shut as the air in my lungs came out in shallow breaths.

Soon, the steady beeping of her heart monitor was the only sound that filled the room.

Before it flat lined.

* * *

_**A/N: …Don't hate me! Vent your thoughts in the REVIEWs! Thank you! I'm excided to read your thoughts!**_


	11. Chapter 11

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_**I'm so, so, so, sorry for the late update! Work…it sucks. And then I got really sick. But anyway, here is the next chapter! I know many of you were quite upset with me. Hopefully now this will change your mind? Enjoy!**_

_****Song: Hospital by Lydia. **_

_**Disclaimer: See previous chapter.**_

_**~ / ~ / ~ / ~**_

That sound. It seemed to be as loud as the earthquake itself. It sliced into my heart and I stared in disbelief at the flat line moving across the screen. No, the machine was just malfunctioning. Rukia wasn't really…

Finally, the whole picture became clear after what felt like eternity when in reality, only two seconds passed. "Rukia!" I jumped up, and in my haste, knocked the bedside chair crashing to the ground. Just as I was reaching for her, the door burst open and doctors came bustling through.

"Get out of the way!" one of them ordered as he pushed me away from her.

"No!" I shouted and strained against him.

"Isane!" he called. "Get her stabilized!"

Another doctor placed two paddles on Rukia's small chest. "Yes, Ryuken! Charge it to 250, now!" A ring went through the air before she shouted, "Clear!" Rukia's body jolted and thumped down. "Again, 250! Clear!"

_No._

"Go 375, Clear!"

_Rukia. _

_"Clear!"_

I couldn't blink, couldn't look away from her pale body being thrown and jerking from the electricity; afraid that I would miss something. I felt weak and limp. I sagged into the arm of the doctor and the pressure of his hand clasping my arm was the only thing keeping me rooted.

The scent of cherry blossoms wafted from behind me. I didn't turn, already knowing who was behind me. "…Rukia?" the sound was soft, barely audible from all the commotion, but I heard it. The timbre was heartbroken and strained. I realized in the next second Byakuya was being taken away, under protest, by two doctors. "Wait!" He was shouting it. "Wait—listen— Rukia, if you can hear me, do not—"

_"Get them out of here!"_ Ryuken ordered sharply, and the other doctors physically _pushed_ Byakuya out and pulled me along, throwing me out into the hallway, still struggling. I was so uncoordinated that I ended up ramming into Byakuya's chest. Surprisingly, he flashed his hands out to steady me, but when I looked up his eyes were hard and cold, staring at the closed door to Rukia's room. The noise faded, and it seemed deathly quiet in the hallway. His grip on my shoulders got noticeably tighter.

"Uh—Byakuya, let go."

His eyes flashed down and he released me. "They will stabilize her." He closed his eyes. "She is strong. It would be best if we did not stand here. I advise you to head into the cafeteria and wait. It is useless waiting here." With that, he turned around and walked steadily down the hall to the elevators. My hands formed fists as I glared back at the closed door. Rukia was on the other side and I was stuck here. I had to trust the doctors with her. But I couldn't just walk away. God dammit, why couldn't they let me stay in the room with her! Instead they locked me out here, pacing like a damn caged animal.

"Fuck!" I slammed my fist into the nearby wall, letting all my anger and guilt pour out with it. The weak wall crumbled under my fist and a large hole formed as I pulled my hand back.

"K—Kurosaki?"

I blinked and brought my hand down, turning to whoever spoke. "Oh, Kira, it's you."

His green eyes looked from the hole in the wall to the closed door to Rukia's room. "I just, uh…" he looked back to me, and it looked like he wished he hadn't come, "came to see how Rukia was doing. I'm checking on everyone. Almost everyone had been admitted in."

I bit my lip. "I really have no fucking idea how she is." I thrust my finger to the door. "Those bastards won't let me see her and they kicked me out when she flat lined."

Kira's eyes went wide. "I'm sorry, Ichigo."

I scoffed. "And you know what really gets me is that I have no idea _why_ she flat lined. In my mind she just had a broken leg, hell, two broken legs, maybe a cracked rib or something, I don't know, I didn't ask. But I know she had a concussion. How could a concussion cause her heart to stop? Something else is going on with her and no one is telling me!" I stopped and glanced at Kira. It was then that I noticed he had tears silently running down his face. "Oh, God," I realized, eyes going wide. "Where's Momo?"

He didn't look at me but I saw his shoulders shake. I couldn't take it. I was lightheaded and felt myself sliding against the wall to the floor and pulled my knees up to my chest, feeling the strain of my ribcage. "And the others?" I asked, staring at the floor. "Rangiku, Shuuhei, Toshiro, Shinji?"

"They're okay. For the most part." He settled down on the floor next to me. "As we were leaving the building, a piece of cement fell and struck Momo. She was bleeding heavily from her head. I carried her out while Toshiro watched me like a hawk. He is her sister after all. The doctors are saying she will be in a coma." We sat in silence for a few minutes until his next words caught me off guard. "You know, the officials are claiming the earthquake to be a bomb."

My head lifted. "A…bomb?"

"Don't ask me why. Apparently that makes the most sense to them."

"That's ridiculous. Why would someone—"

His eyes hardened. "You _do_ know who owned our business before Ukitake was, right?"

I sighed. "I'm not ready for a history lesson. But yeah, I guess. I only know his last name. Aizen."

"Yes. Sosuke Aizen. He got fired and decided to make his own company in a building not to far from ours. He's the boss of that place; and his manager? _Gin Ichimaru._"

"What does this have to do with anything? And so what about Gin."

Kira sighed. "Look, Rangiku told me that an hour before this so called earthquake, Gin called her from home and demanded her to leave. He didn't tell her why, just to leave. She didn't, of course. It seems Gin knew exactly what was going to happen."

"You think Aizen set a bomb to destroy us?" Suddenly my nightmare from what felt like days ago came rushing back. _A bomb. A bomb struck our building._ I squeezed my eyes shut. "No. It was an earthquake. It felt like an earthquake."

"Have you ever been in an earthquake before?"

"Yeah, once. But…it was when I was nine."

"So you don't really remember."

I frowned before our heads both snapped up when we heard footsteps sounding down the hall before stopping in front of us. "Hey, you two!" Shuuhei was looking down at us with a forced care free attitude. "Stop moping. Let's get to the cafeteria and get some food. Looks like you need to get your minds off a lot of things."

I looked at the closed door to Rukia's room once more. "I really don't want to leave until I know for sure Rukia is stabilized." No sooner had the words left my house when her door opened and the doctor I knew to be Unohana walked out with a tall male doctor with glasses. It took a moment to register that man to be Ryuken, the bastard who threw me and Byakuya out.

Unohana smiled softly and clasped her hands in front of her. "Kurosaki-san, a word?"

I scrambled up from the floor. "How is she?"

She gave a wary glance toward Kira and Shuuhei, probably not wanting to say in front of them. I sighed. "You guys go ahead. I'll meet you in a moment."

Kira nodded and Shuuhei gave a mumbled, "All right."

As they left I turned back to Unohana. "Give it to me straight."

"Kurosaki-san, listen to me. Rukia doesn't have just a concussion. She never did. The reason why she passed out in that building is because she has Ventricular fibrillation."

"What?" I blinked. "What is that exactly?"

"Ventricular fibrillation is irregular heart rhythm consisting of very rapid, uncoordinated fluttering contractions of the lower chambers of the heart. The ventricles do not pump blood properly. Blood pressure drops dramatically, depriving vital organs, including the brain, of their essential blood supply. The majority of patients lose consciousness fairly quickly and require emergency medical assistance, including CPR. Patients who receive CPR until their heart can be shocked back into a normal rhythm with a defibrillator have much better survival rates. If Rukia did not receive defibrillator she would have died within minutes. Ventricular fibrillation is usually associated with some kind of heart disease. Kurosaki-san, ventricular fibrillation is often triggered by a heart attack."

"Heart attack…she had a heart attack?" I tried to come to terms with this. Part of me felt overjoyed that she was alive and breathing, but the fact that she had a heart attack...

"Her sister suffered the same tragic disease. The heart attack was triggered by Rukia feeling excessive amounts of fear and stress during the collapse. Now concussions affect all the systems in the body and can lead to irregular heart beats which can put strain on the heart. They can also cause a blood clot that can travel to the heart resulting in a heart attack or blockage. Are you following me, Kurosaki-san?"

"I am," I managed out, although my legs felt unsteady and wobbly, forcing me to use the wall behind me for support.

"I do not want to throw this all to you at once, but there is more," she continued. "About the scars on her back…they appear to be from some form of blade."

"I saw them. How recently did that happen?"

"From what I can tell, a few years old. Kurosaki-san," Unohana's face turned to worry. "do you know of Rukia's background at all?"

"I just met her five days ago…hold on. How long was I even here for?"

"You were unconscious for four days."

"So, nine days then."

She nodded. "I see. Perhaps she should tell you herself."

"There's no way she did that to herself, right?"

"No, no, not at all."came the voice of Byakuya Kuchiki. "She was in foster care for some time because her parents died when she was only a baby. Her sister, who was my wife was at the orphanage with Rukia until Hisana became adopted. The foster family would not adopt Rukia and so Hisana was unfortunately adopted and forced to leave Rukia behind. A few years later, Hisana and I fell in love, and we married. Hisana went from orphanage to orphanage, trying to find Rukia. Rukia had been in numerous foster families and Hisana never found Rukia until she suffered a heart attack. Thankfully, I found and saved Rukia from her fifth foster family. It seemed that Rukia had been abused in her foster family."

I clenched my jaw in frustration. I didn't know what to say.

"Rukia has had a hard life, Ichigo. She can not be let down again."

"I won't fail her," I growled.

Unohana nodded. "That is all. Rukia will be fine so I want you both to relax and eat something."

I nodded and watched as she left with Ryuken beside her. And through all that time, Ryuken had not said a word.

* * *

"Ichigo," Shuuhei began. "You look like shit. Cheer up. Rukia's fine. Now eat something."

I sucked in a deep, uncontrolled breath in a gasp, and said miserably, "But I was _there_. I was there when it happened." I grabbed the cup Shuuhei handed me as he sat down opposite of me and took a gulping drink, mostly to have him shut up. The liquid spilled over on the table as I set it down forcefully.

Shuuhei looked up at me and said, "If you can't forgive yourself, how do you think Rukia will?"

I shook my head. My eyes were full of tears, again. "What am I going to _do_?"

* * *

Two hours passed before I could finally see Rukia. She was still unconscious but the doctors insisted she would wake soon. I sat down beside her again and stared at her still form.

"Can she hear anything?" I asked Unohana who stood by the monitors, checking everything and marking things in her clipboard.

"Possibly. Feel free to talk to her. Pretend I'm not here," she smiled and resumed her work.

I moved a stray strand of black hair away from her face. Oh, how I desperately wanted to see her violet eyes and hear her voice again. "Rukia."

* * *

**Rukia's POV**

_Rukia. _

It was a whisper in the storm that roared and thundered around me, but I recognized the sound. _Ichigo._ That was Ichigo's voice. I remembered. How could I forget? The fact that I finally remembered had me straining against the binds that tied me back.

"Here!" I screamed, as the void pulled me farther away. "Ichigo, help me!" This was coming out of my very core, the thing that had survived my body after everything.

My soul.

_Rukia, come back to me. Please. Just open your eyes. Wake up. I know you can hear me. So, please, come back._

I couldn't. He was on the other side and I was being dragged inch by inch into the dark no matter how hard I fought.

_You're not going to make it_, a logical part of my brain declared and I felt that it was correct. Part of me wasn't.

* * *

**Ichigo's POV**

"Ah," Unohana spoke softly and I glanced to her. "You see this?" she pointed to Rukia's heart monitor. "She's coming around. She should be opening her eyes soon."

I smiled. Rukia would be okay. She was fighting like I knew she would. Finally, the moment I had been waiting agonizingly long for. Her eyelids fluttered gently and she gave a light groan. I shifted farther on the edge of the hospital chair as her eyes fully opened. She glanced around her and her face looked slightly confused.

"Rukia," Unohana stepped forward and placed a hand on Rukia's shoulder. Her violet eyes zeroed in on the doctor. "You are in a hospital. You were in an accident but are fine now. Are how you feeling? Any pain or discomfort?"

Rukia stared at her for a moment before shaking her head. The movement caused her to get a flash of me and she stopped her movement, staring at me intently.

"Rukia?" I couldn't help the grin that stretched across my face. "I'm so glad you're all right." I still held her hand and my grip tightened softly. She glanced down at our hands before slowly tugging away. I dropped her hand at once, sensing something was wrong.

She met my eyes once more before opening her mouth to ask, "Who are you?"

My heart dropped. This was what I was worried about. "Rukia…you don't remember me?"

She gave an uneasy glance at Unohana. She gave a tentative smile, perhaps encouraging. Rukia didn't take it. She closed her eyes and inhaled shakily. "Nii-sama…I need Nii-sama."

"Of course," Unohana said. "He's right outside." She walked to the door and opened it. Byakuya nodded to her and stepped inside. His eyes stayed on Rukia and he stopped at the foot of the bed.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't…" she carefully glanced at me. "I don't remember this man. Although, I feel I should."

Byakuya sighed. "Rukia, he's Ichigo Kurosaki. I suppose you can say you have an affiliation with him and he to you."

I was surprised. This was the time Byakuya could have lied to her and say she had nothing to do with me. Instead, he told her that we were together.

"Where's Renji?"

"He, uh," I shook my head. She got it immediately.

"Oh…I see." she stared back at me. "Who else? Who else is dead?"

"Our boss," I answered, although my attention was focused on Unohana. "Can I talk to you for a second?" I asked her.

"Of course." She led the way out into the hallway and closed the door softly behind her.

I crossed my arms, feeling all my energy drain. "Will she ever remember me?" I demanded Unohana.

"She will. Just give her time. Her brain is trying to heal and protect itself. As you said earlier, you two have only met nine days ago. She barely knows you."

"Then how does she remember Renji?"

"The brain in a mysterious object. One can never know. Don't you worry. She will remember. She will."

"I hope you are right."

* * *

_**A/N: How was that? SUSPENSE! Don't ask me about Rukia's illness, I'm honestly winging it, **__**haha, and it is just making the right amount of sense. Now go check out Silent Deadly Love by Darkkiss15 and leave some of your amazing support by dropping some reviews there! But don't forget to leave some here ;)**_


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